sporadic
Americanadjective
-
(of similar things or occurrences) appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional.
sporadic renewals of enthusiasm.
- Antonyms:
- continuous
-
appearing in scattered or isolated instances, as a disease.
-
isolated, as a single instance of something; being or occurring apart from others.
- Synonyms:
- unconnected, separate
-
occurring singly or widely apart in locality.
the sporadic growth of plants.
adjective
-
occurring at irregular points in time; intermittent
sporadic firing
-
scattered; isolated
a sporadic disease
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sporadic
First recorded in 1680–90; from Medieval Latin sporadicus, from Greek sporadikós, equivalent to sporad- (stem of sporás “strewn,” akin to sporá “sowing, seed”) + -ikos adjective suffix; see spore, -ic
Explanation
Sporadic is an adjective that you can use to refer to something that happens or appears often, but not constantly or regularly. The mail carrier comes every day but the plumber's visits are sporadic — he comes as needed. A specialized use of sporadic is to describe a disease that appears only occasionally in random cases, and is therefore not an epidemic. Mostly, though, you'll hear this word used to describe anything that happens occasionally, like your family's sporadic trips to visit your distant cousins in Ohio or the sporadic bake sales your science club sponsors when it's low on funds. English borrowed the word sporadic from Greek sporadikós, "scattered."
Vocabulary lists containing sporadic
Grade 9, List 1
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The Great Gatsby
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Those successes, however, were sporadic and he ultimately had a shaky performance, completing 14 of 29 passes for 90 yards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
If it doesn’t, don’t assume the sporadic foreign-exchange interventions will keep working.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Market breadth has been sporadic and was negative on Aug. 5 when SPX reached its highest-ever intraday point so far.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Residents at the time reported sporadic outages after the troops left.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
The sporadic grumbles that can suddenly overrun a town like a summer forest fire had been given another excuse to ignite again.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
