off and on

adverb

: with periodic cessation : intermittently

rained off and on all day

off-and-on adjective

They have an off-and-on relationship.

off-and-on work

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Orbital plans to use the money to develop medicines and vaccines that rely on RNA molecules, which deliver instructions from DNA to the body’s protein-making machinery and help to turn genes off and on. —Jonathan Saltzman, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Apr. 2023

Yeah, a year and half, off and on. —Katie Bain, Billboard, 21 Mar. 2022

The Institute has appeared, off and on, in the pages of IEEESpectrum since debuting as a four-page insert in the December 1976 issue. —IEEE Spectrum, 7 Mar. 2023

Cyrus and Hemsworth's relationship was off and on across the last decade. —Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 13 Jan. 2023

For years, off and on, my primary doctor would tell me that my sodium level was low. —Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 4 Jan. 2023

There are, of course, more familiar names that sometimes arise from the oracular mists of the Swedish Academy, particularly over the past few decades, when, though tainted by scandal, the Nobel Committee became, off and on, more, uh, hip—both Bob Dylan and Kazuo Ishiguro come to mind. —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2022

Gary Hill was eager for his new apartment key after living in a shelter off and on since the pandemic hit. —Dallas News, 8 Sep. 2022

Lynskey has done the other side of the tragedy-comedy mask before, most notably off and on for the entire run of Two and a Half Men. —Vulture, 15 Mar. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1535, in the meaning defined above