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 Experts say that occasional, minor lapses—misplacing items, forgetting a word, or losing your train of thought—are a normal part of the aging process. — Danielle Zickl, HEALTH, 31 Aug. 2026 Both were enthusiastic members of a Presbyterian Church in America youth group called Village Seven; Good was an occasional soloist on the worship team. — Emily Witt, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 All three plays share Maya’s signature style of blazing-fast dialogue, crackling humor, occasional lines spoken in Spanish and a quick wrap-up in under two hours. — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2026 During my hands-on time with Silver Palace at AnimeNYC and throughout the recent beta, the action-RPG suffered frequent frame drops and occasional crashes. — Gabriel Zamora, PC Magazine, 29 Aug. 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
  • While Cannes has been far more sporadic in its support of the form, and Berlin tends to offer quantity at the expense of quality, Venice has consistently brought the bangers — and the 2026 selection looks to be among its best yet.
    — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 2 Sep. 2026
  • The clear-cutting of swaths of trees led to sporadic dust storms while, at night, the data center’s bright white lights can be seen from their homes and obscure the stars, according to the complaint.
    — Zachary Hansen, AJC.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of sporadic
Adjective
  • Back in January, guests took the chance and filled quite a few odd items with popcorn.
    — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Which is certainly an odd way to go about saving children from abuse, as Hansen continually explains the mission to Decoy Dan.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of odd
Adjective
  • With intermittent rain in the forecast over the next week, some sessions could be rescheduled or delayed for hours, corralling fans and shortening the time players have to recover for their next round.
    — Aaron Short, Curbed, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The project is designed to turn intermittent solar generation into a more dependable power source.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of intermittent
Adjective
  • On September 1, Claire Stoermer shared a rare childhood photo of her daughter to celebrate the milestone.
    — Hannah Malach, InStyle, 2 Sep. 2026
  • If the event detected by this team was caused by the rare interaction between two WIMPs, this would tell scientists some things about these currently hypothetical particles.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of rare
Adjective
  • And at the end of it all, a euphoric fan base, tipsy with its sudden reversal of fortune, belted out a 1976 Abba song in South Florida.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The model is pulled in ten different directions by different internal product teams, resulting in an interface that suffers from sudden behavioral resets and an inability to smoothly execute complex, multi-turn human requests.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of sudden
Adjective
  • Flooding rain, gusty winds, storm surge and isolated tornadoes are all possible, according to AccuWeather.
    — Cheryl McCloud, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Researchers at the University of Idaho have discovered a new species of spider believed to be living only in an isolated forest area in north-central Idaho.
    — Harllie Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of isolated
Adjective
  • If a machine encounters something unusual or gets stuck, someone monitoring the fleet can briefly intervene until the autonomous system is ready to take back over.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The changes occurred amid an unusual rollout of the blog post.
    — Emily Forlini, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • There is also optimism that El-Sayed's populist message can attract infrequent and new voters, especially young people.
    — Sam Gringlas, NPR, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Studies across the tree of life are finding that genome duplication isn’t exactly an infrequent occurrence.
    — Carrie Arnold Contributing, Quanta Magazine, 2 Sep. 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 8 Sep. 2026.

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