occasional

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #9832

Meanings

1

adj
Happening from time to time, but not often.

He enjoyed the occasional glass of wine with dinner.
2

adj
Made or used for a particular occasion or purpose.

The living room needs a few occasional chairs for guests.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · happening from time to... episodic casual periodic

Word family

Derived forms occasionalism occasionalistoccasionalityoccasionallyoccasionalnesssemioccasionalunoccasional

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

occasional glass
a glassful of a drink consumed from time to time

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al.

occasyonal Middle English occāsiōnālis la-med ocasionel Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# occasional

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/
**Frequency rank:** 9832

## Meanings
1. Happening from time to time, but not often.
2. Made or used for a particular occasion or purpose.

## Examples
- He enjoyed the occasional glass of wine with dinner.
- The living room needs a few occasional chairs for guests.

## Derived Forms
- occasionalism
- occasionalist
- occasionality
- occasionally
- occasionalness
- semioccasional
- unoccasional

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: occasyonal
- Root: occāsiōnālis
- Root: ocasionel

## Etymology
From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al.

## AI Etymology
Occasional comes from Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al. Modern senses include happening from time to time, but not often and made or used for a particular occasion or purpose. The wider word family includes derivatives such as occasionalism, occasionalist, occasionality, occasionally, occasionalness, and semioccasional.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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