Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Many times; frequently.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Many times; many a time; frequently; not seldom; not rarely: same as oft, and now the usual form.
- Synonyms Often, Frequently. Where these words differ, often is the simpler and stronger, and expresses the more regular recurrence: as, I often take that path and frequently meet him on the way.
- Frequent; repeated.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Frequently; many times; not seldom.
- adj. Frequent; common; repeated.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. many times at short intervals
- adv. in many cases or instances
- adv. frequently or in great quantities
Etymologies
- Middle English, alteration (probably influenced by selden, seldom) of oft, from Old English; see upo in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“We may not often have such hot summers in winter, but neither do we _often_ have such cold winters in summer.”
Béarn and the Pyrenees A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre
“As far as my observations extend, few, if any, of all the devotees to this stupefying substance, ever resort to its use without some supposed necessity; and often, alas _too often_, by the advice of physicians.”
A Dissertation on the Medical Properties and Injurious Effects of the Habitual Use of Tobacco
“_I often had been often_ F1. _often had been_ (om.”
Two Gentlemen of Verona The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.]
“Entrepreneur" is a term often used, but seldom defined.”
The Wall Street Journal: Getting Indian Entrepreneurship Right
“Since then, Chinese Internet companies have announced efforts to crack down on "rumors"—a term often understood to mean information that the Communist Party finds undesirable—while city governments are enacting new rules that would require users of Twitter-like microblogs and other services to register their real names with the companies before posting.”
“China was liberated 60 years ago," wrote one Weibo user, borrowing a term often used by the government to describe the Communist Party's rise to power.”
The Wall Street Journal: Chinese Police Free 30 Held as Slaves in Kilns
“I think we can be a force multiplied, which is a term often used by law enforcement, where private industry serves as additional eyes and ears to help authorities to uncover these activities to protect the public, Frantz said.”
“Giving a name to difficult problems that are poorly understood provides a kind of false comfort, but the label often doesn't really add to the understanding and may carry risks of its own -- especially unnecessary treatment, stigma and wasted resources.”
The Huffington Post: Allen Frances: Why Are Kids Suddenly So Sick?
“Enemies of peace" is a term often used by the Afghan government to describe the Taliban and other insurgents.”
The Huffington Post: Insurgents killed eight Afghan security officials
“According to state media, he told executives that Internet companies should "step up the application and management of new technology, and absolutely put an end" to "fake and misleading information," a term often to mean information not approved by Chinese authorities.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘often’.
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Say It Right
Words that people pronounce in ways I wouldn't pronounce them.
often, palm, clitoris, aunt, vasectomy, interesting, headache, ask, row, ignominy, antimony, ptisan and 2 more...
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Answers
Life is full of tests and challenges--with our busy schedules, it can be hard to find the time to study. Are you a student bombarded by a pop quiz? A witness testifying about that industrial accide...
true, false, All of the above., None of the above., D, C, B, A, 42, Not to my recolle..., children's laughter, a dentist's drill and 23 more...
milosrdenstvi I know of no other word in English which has such a wide-spread variant pronunciation of the common Americans around me. I do not pronounce the t, but many people do.
As dgstone has alluded to -- you've got to be able to make the hilarious puns with orphan! Oct 19, 2009
dgstone Brings to mind a section in the Pirates of Penzance. Mar 13, 2008
reesetee Well, if you're a curmudgeon, gerwitz, then so am I. :-) Jul 28, 2007
gerwitz I have witnessed the reintroduction of the hard t in often among the educated during my lifetime. Perhaps merely because I am a curmudgeon, this grates against my nerves. Jul 28, 2007