Standard Lemma guide

sporadically

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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  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S P ER0 AE1 D IH0 K L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

At an occasional, infrequent, or irregular frequency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in a sporadic manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he only works sporadically

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: periodically

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English sporadic Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al Middle English -ly Middle English -ally English -ally English sporadically From sporadic + -ally.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: esporàdicament — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Finnish: satunnaisesti — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Finnish: hajanaisesti — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Finnish: aika-ajoin — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Finnish: sporadisesti — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Galician: esporadicamente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • German: sporadisch — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Greek: σποραδικά (sporadiká) — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Hungarian: szórványosan — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sporadisk — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Persian: گهگاه — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Polish: sporadycznie — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Portuguese: esporadicamente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Portuguese: pontualmente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Spanish: esporádicamente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Spanish: discontinuamente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Spanish: intermitentemente — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Spanish: a rachas — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Spanish: a trompicones — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Vietnamese: lẻ tẻ — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
  • Vietnamese: lác đác — In an occasional, infrequent, or irregular manner
Real reading context

sporadically in complete knowledge articles