OCCASIONAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does occasional mean? 

• OCCASIONAL (adjective)
  The adjective OCCASIONAL has 4 senses:

1. occurring from time to time

2. occurring or appearing at usually irregular intervals

3. occurring on a temporary or irregular basis

4. recurring or reappearing from time to time

  Familiarity information: OCCASIONAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OCCASIONAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Occurring from time to time

Context example:

took an occasional glass of wine

Similar:

infrequent (not frequent; not occurring regularly or at short intervals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Occurring or appearing at usually irregular intervals

Synonyms:

episodic; occasional

Context example:

occasional headaches

Similar:

unpredictable (not capable of being foretold)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Occurring on a temporary or irregular basis

Synonyms:

casual; occasional

Context example:

an occasional worker

Similar:

irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Recurring or reappearing from time to time

Synonyms:

occasional; periodic

Context example:

periodic feelings of anxiety

Similar:

sporadic (recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances)

 Context examples 

Reddening of the palmar and plantar regions of the body with occasional involvement of the distal extremities.

(Acral Erythema, NCI Thesaurus)

But on the fourth side—that which sloped down in the direction of the lake—there was only low scrub, with scattered trees and occasional open glades.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Includes daily smokers and non-daily smokers (also known as occasional smokers).

(Current Smoker, NCI Thesaurus)

E. hoshinae is an occasional opportunist pathogen in humans and a pathogen in reptiles and amphibians.

(Edwardsiella hoshinae, NCI Thesaurus)

None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Arthur’s.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His diagnosis was correct, however, for he was seized with occasional sicknesses, during which he vomited blood and suffered great pain.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Mr. Copperfield, I trust, as an old and familiar friend, will not object to receive occasional intelligence, himself, from one who knew him when the twins were yet unconscious?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Or, as chance might have it, he would lie farther away, to the side or rear, watching the outlines of the man and the occasional movements of his body.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The occasional or regional occurrence of gemistocytic neoplastic cells is compatible with the diagnosis of fibrillary astrocytoma.

(Fibrillary Astrocytoma, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

The terror of his former occasional visits to that room seemed all renewed, and she felt as if he were going to examine her again in French and English.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)