on occasion
310
1.7
- idiom
- You can still get things right on occasion.
- even on occasion
- also on occasion
- it seems on occasion
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Watch on YouTubeTo be sick on occasion is actually good for us.
- To be sick on occasion is actually good for us.
- There's no way that I smoke weed on occasion.
- So do check them on occasion and pull those that start to do that.
- We also love to play the banjo, which I do on occasion.
- Do you pick your scabs on occasion?
- So on occasion the city will rise up, and then the Great Old Ones can communicate with human beings.
- Those are much bigger than that, and those are even shorn, so if they really like their spot, it's possible that plants can get a little bit bigger on occasion.
Examples
-
He works part time in the shop, and can, on occasion, be a very colorful character.
-
You may have been stuck for words on occasion, but you always knew what you wanted.
Fiction book (1991) -
So do check them on occasion and pull those that start to do that.
-
To be sick on occasion is actually good for us.
-
Oh, I clean up pretty well on occasion.
-
I only bring it on occasion.
-
Yes, on occasion we have a date.
-
I no longer attended services; she went on occasion to see if anything new had come up.
Fiction book (1991) -
And now I very rarely, but still on occasion hunt maybe once per year.
-
I go to the movies on occasion when I have free time.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
On some occasions but not always
508
1.0
Happens only a few times
464
1.0
Happens sometimes but not often
407
2.0
Happens sometimes but not often
353
1.6
Sometimes, but not very often
259
1.0
Happens sometimes but not very often
228
1.4
Happens sometimes but not regularly
133
2.0
Sometimes, not very often
118
1.7
Not happening or done very often
92
1.6
Happens one or two times, not often
56
2.3
Happens sometimes but not very often
42
2.0
Happens sometimes but not regularly
41
2.4
Happens sometimes, but not very often
34
2.5
Happens sometimes but not regularly
15
5.0
Happening only sometimes
1
6.0
Does not happen often
1
8.8
Not happening often
Antonyms
How Often
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'sometimes' follows directly from combining the preposition 'on' in a temporal/occasional use with 'occasion' (a particular event), yielding 'at times' or 'on certain occasions'. This is a regular compositional pattern with clear cross-linguistic parallels (e.g., Spanish 'en ocasiones', French 'à l'occasion'), so a B1 learner who knows the parts will likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
On occasion comes from the image of doing something at a certain occasion, a special time or event, rather than all the time. So it means 'sometimes' or 'from time to time'.