sporadicallyadv.
1. In isolated cases or instances.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [adverb]
seldom-whenc888
seldomc897
seld-whenc897
seldoma1000
seldc1000
seldom-timec1386
seld-timec1386
seld-whilea1387
seld-where1390
thinc1405
rare?1440
sendle?a1500
daintilya1513
thinlyc1545
rarely1546
once in a moon1547
out-takingly1549
seldomly1549
for once and away1583
sparingly1590
scarce1596
unfrequently1646
unoften1654
infrequently1673
once in a while1765
sporadically1765
sparselya1871
seldom-while1876
(for) once in a way1891
1765 Philos. Trans. 1764 (Royal Soc.) 54 78 Some years it is felt sporadically all the winter.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. II. 95 We find intermittents..existing..sporadically as well as epidemically.
1872 J. S. Cohen Dis. Throat 97 Although sometimes appearing sporadically, diphtheria is essentially an endemic disease.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 909 Those cases [of meningitis] which though occurring sporadically, resemble the epidemic..form of the disease.
2. In a scattered or dispersed manner; at intervals; occasionally; here and there.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > frequency > infrequency > [adverb] > intermittently
by (formerly also at) startsc1422
startmeal?c1422
off and on1535
every otherwhile1542
by, or in, snatches1577
by fits and turns1583
by halves and fits1583
one time with another1591
fit-meal1593
by fits and spurts1605
planetarily?1609
scatteredly1612
startinglya1616
by snaps1631
intermittingly1654
from space to space1658
on and off1668
at (by) intervals1744
cessantly1746
by spells1788
fitfully1792
by fits and spasms1797
everylikea1800
intermittently1800
intermittedly1829
interjectionally1837
jerkily1839
at seasons1850
sporadically1852
parenthetically1860
spasmodically1877
snatchily1880
variously1892
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [adverb] > here and there at wide intervals
thinc1405
thinlyc1545
sparsim1587
scatteredly1612
sprinklingly1615
sparse1725
sparsely1796
sporadically1852
tenuously1892
1852 T. Ross tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. Amer. III. xxxii. 352 No snow falls sporadically in any of the eastern systems.
1875 E. White Life in Christ (1878) iv. xxvi. 425 That the belief..lingered in the churches sporadically for several centuries.
1885 Athenæum 16 May 623/1 The Septuagint does not exist in a critical edition; its Hebrew original has only been sporadically restored.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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adv.1765