occasional

adjective

ə-ˈkā-zh(ə-)nəl How to pronounce occasional (audio)
Definition of occasionalnext
1
as in sporadic
lacking in steadiness or regularity of occurrence the weekend forecast is for occasional showers

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in odd
not often occurring or repeated an occasional mechanical problem with our car, but nothing serious

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of occasional My family has always left shoes at the door, except for occasional circumstances like parties, et cetera. — R. Eric Thomas, Washington Post, 20 July 2026 The scale and reach of the operation suggest Ukraine is moving beyond occasional symbolic attacks on Moscow and building a sustained campaign against the infrastructure that supports Russia’s war. — Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 20 July 2026 Rather than monitoring entire calls, Thorn uses AI to check occasional frames of a video call. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 20 July 2026 Before that, beyond occasional outliers (Denmark in 1986, for example, or perhaps England’s in 1982), as a rule international shirts tended to be fairly plain, in that country’s traditional colours. — Nick Miller, New York Times, 19 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for occasional
Recent Examples of Synonyms for occasional
  1. sporadic
  2. odd
  3. intermittent
  4. rare
  5. sudden
  6. isolated
  7. unusual
  8. infrequent
Adjective
  • Through sporadic radio contact, engineers discovered a problem with some of the spacecraft’s cold gas thrusters used for finer attitude control.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 1 Aug. 2026
  • There is little data on the extent of the fraud cases, because reporting is so sporadic and scattered across dozens of agencies.
    — Itzel Luna, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026
Definition of sporadic
Adjective
  • Couples from Copenhagen enjoying a sunny weekend away, as well as the odd tourist.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Aug. 2026
  • When the leagues decided to increase inter-league play, Houston moved because the odd-team out problem was no longer valid.
    — Chuck Murr, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of odd
Adjective
  • The Chiefs worked out in light intermittent rain but cooler temperatures on Thursday at Missouri Western State University, site of training camp ahead of the NFL’s 2026 season.
    — Emily Curiel, Kansas City Star, 30 July 2026
  • Like most diet regimens, there are a few people whom the risks of intermittent fasting may outweigh the potential benefits.
    — Jennifer Lefton, Verywell Health, 28 July 2026
Definition of intermittent
Adjective
  • The Kansas City Royals began Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins with a pair of rare occurrences.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 30 July 2026
  • Trinitite contains a novel, cagelike clathrate crystal and quasicrystals, rare materials, once thought impossible, that contain nonrepeating atomic structures.
    — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 29 July 2026
Definition of rare
Adjective
  • All of a sudden, Ned seems to regain his memories of Peter just as the film ends.
    — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 31 July 2026
  • Conversely, a significant number of patients who experience sudden cardiac death likely did not have that abnormal measurement.
    — Paul Hsieh, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of sudden
Adjective
  • Wilson’s one-out strikeout in the bottom of the ninth in an at-bat that could have scored the winning run with a fly ball or grounder up the middle was an especially costly mistake, though not an isolated one, as the A’s struck out 14 times total.
    — Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 30 July 2026
  • The company disclosed last week that a combination of its artificial intelligence models escaped an isolated testing environment that had very limited internet access.
    — Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 30 July 2026
Definition of isolated
Adjective
  • Ultimately, both sides are jockeying for power after the war, given the unusual uncertainty brought on by the change in the supreme leadership.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Some reported magnetic order, unusual Hall effects, and efficient spin-charge conversion, while others found no evidence of magnetism in bulk crystals or relaxed thin films.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • Even infrequent exposure to high levels of air pollution increases people’s risk of cardiovascular damage.
    — Richard Marcantonio, The Conversation, 31 July 2026
  • Private equity's return-smoothing is partly a function of infrequent, discretionary valuation marks, not the absence of real volatility.
    — Carrie McCabe, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
Definition of infrequent

Browse Nearby Words

occasion
occasional
occasionally
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Cite this Entry

“Occasional.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/occasional. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of occasional for Spanish Speakers

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