as in off and on
not constantly or steadily over a period of time
It's been raining on and off all afternoon.
Related Words
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Dissimilar Words
as in recurrent
occurring or appearing at intervals
an on-and-off friendship over the years
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for on and off
Adverb
-
The dog bed covers can usually be zipped off and on for simple machine washing and drying, which is important after spending time outside.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
23 July 2025 -
The bird has been drilling off and on since February.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
21 July 2025
Adjective
-
About 795,000 occur each year, with 610,000 being first-time strokes and roughly 185,000 recurrent episodes, and in 2022 1 in 6 deaths were as a result of stroke.—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 July 2025
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The agency said the Kp index could reach nearly four early Friday morning, potentially pulling the northern lights farther south, though NOAA expects no geomagnetic storms or significant transient or recurrent solar winds to disrupt the Earth’s geomagnetic field.—
Ty Roush,
Forbes.com,
17 July 2025
Adverb
-
Defender Phil Jones, who worked sporadically as a coach with United’s under-18s for free for 18 months, is set to leave to pursue a senior assistant role at another club.—
Laurie Whitwell,
New York Times,
3 July 2025
-
While the mustachioed plumber and his brother became the face of the brand, Donkey Kong appears more sporadically — wavering occasionally between a hero and villain — and doesn’t even have a consistent lore.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
1 July 2025
Adjective
-
Does this bring him into a more recurring, regular role?—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
9 May 2025
-
Dobson says the research is coming now that the power engineering community increasingly recognizes cascading failures as a distinct and recurring problem—a concept that still elicited protests from power engineers in the aftermath of the 2003 blackout.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
14 Aug. 2013
Adjective
-
Traditional compliance relies on manual processes, periodic audits and reactive remediation methods that are resource-intensive and inadequate for addressing dynamic cyber threats.—
Sunil Kumar Puli,
Forbes.com,
31 July 2025
-
Cultural tours every Wednesday focus on Hawaii’s history and traditions, while periodic garden tours highlight the native plants, while art tours show the impressive collection of paintings and sculptures.—
Barbara Schuler,
Travel + Leisure,
30 July 2025
Adverb
-
Russia has periodically run out of missiles especially during the first year of the war.—
Natasha Lindstaedt,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
-
Hartfield also raises his own cattle and sells them periodically at stock yards throughout the state.—
Kyle Martin,
Mercury News,
12 July 2025
Adjective
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The five-time All-Star reportedly committed to a gluten-free, low-sugar diet that was founded upon intermittent fasting and consuming at least 250 grams of protein daily.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
28 July 2025
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Grid-scale batteries to store renewable energy—an important means of making the intermittent energy supply from sun and wind match times of energy demand—were scarce in 2015.—
Jeff Young,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 July 2025
Adverb
-
What used to be a two-lane road will drop down to one lane during the week and occasionally on Saturdays as construction requires, according to airport leadership.—
Hadley Hitson,
The Tennessean,
24 July 2025
-
Brooks just takes them in some delightfully daffy (and occasionally deeply scary) new directions.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
23 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“On and off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/on%20and%20off. Accessed 3 Aug. 2025.
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