sporadic

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“
And presently there was some applause--sporadic, Jeeves has since told me it was--and I saw Gussie being steered by a bearded bloke in a gown to a seat in the middle of the platform And I confess that as I beheld him and felt that there but for the grace of God went Bertram Wooster, a shudder ran through the frame.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Occurring at irregular intervals; having no pattern or order in time. See Synonyms at periodic.
  2. adjective Appearing singly or at widely scattered localities, as a plant or disease.
  3. adjective Isolated; unique: a sporadic example.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The passions of the Polynesian people live on in this beautiful land At this point the journal entries became sporadic, as if Elson Wellbright's emotional rebirth had freed him from chronicling the details of his largely unhappy life. —  Muller, Marcia - [22] A Walk through the fire.htm
  • Conversation was sporadic, and not only because we were eating. —  52316_ApeWhoGuardsTheBalance
  • Most cases of Parkinson's disease are termed sporadic, meaning that there is no obvious genetic cause, but there are inherited forms of Parkinson's. —  Health News from Medical News Today
  • Defensive pressure is somewhat sporadic, and the secondary has never been airtight. —  Five Tool Tool - The Sports Blog That Loves You Back
  • Work is sporadic, and the goal of buying a home is the main source of motivation. —  Coffee coffee and more coffee
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Medieval Latin sporadicus, scattered, from Greek sporadikos, from sporas, sporad-; see sper- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French sporadique = Spanish esporádico = Portuguese esporadico = Italian sporadico, from New Latin sporadicus, from Greek σποραδικός, scattered, from σποράς, scattered, from σπείρειν, scatter: see spore.
 

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/spəˈrædɪk/
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