Phrase guide

on and off

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adv

Meaning 1

Intermittently.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

Examples

  • With so much worry, I only slept on and off last night.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

not regularly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they phone each other off and on

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: off and on

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 断断续续地 (duànduànxùxùdì) — intermittently
  • Dutch: af en aan — intermittently
  • Finnish: ajoittain — intermittently
  • Finnish: pätkittäin — intermittently
  • Finnish: katkonaisesti — intermittently
  • French: par intermittence — intermittently
  • German: ab und zu — intermittently
  • Greek: κατά διαλείμματα (katá dialeímmata) — intermittently
  • Norwegian Bokmål: til og fra — intermittently
  • Polish: zrywami — intermittently
  • Russian: уры́вками (urývkami) — intermittently
  • Spanish: intermitentemente — intermittently
  • Spanish: de vez en cuando — intermittently
  • Spanish: a intervalos — intermittently
  • Swedish: till och från — intermittently