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over and over again

over and over again

303 1.0
Happens many times
  • idiom
: una y otra vez
  • She practiced the piano piece over and over again to improve her skills.
  • same things over and over again
  • repeat over and over again
  • tell over and over again

He also tried over and over again to acquire MIT.

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Examples

  • Yes, so we can watch it over and over again.

    Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

  • So something we see over and over again is expertise.

    Chris Williamson

  • And then we just keep doing that over and over again, OK.

  • You see him doing this over and over again in his works.

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • I just kept reading it over and over again, like, wow, wow.

  • We see this over and over again, the same time, the same year.

  • Now, over and over again in my career, this came up.

  • This structure occurs over and over again in human transactions.

  • We've seen this over and over again.

    2000 Mules (2022)

  • There are many favorite compositions that they ask to hear over and over again.

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

often
vsover and over again
∞ 1.0

Happens many times

is the plain term for repetition without stressing schedule
over and over
vsover and over again
584 1.0

Many times in a row

is the broad, neutral expression for repeated action
frequently
vsover and over again
411 1.0

Happening many times in a short time

is broader and simply indicates many occurrences
repeatedly
vsover and over again
390 1.0

It happens again and again

is the simple general word for many repetitions
again and again
vsover and over again
243 1.0

Many times on different occasions

is the neutral way to say many repeated occurrences
time and again
vsover and over again
  • Informal
123 1.8

Happens again and again

is the general neutral phrase for repeated events
on a regular basis
vsover and over again
111 2.3

Happens often at set times

is the general repeated idea without implying regularity
oftentimes
vsover and over again
  • Archaic
87 4.9

Happens many times, usually within a short time

covers repeated instances without suggesting short intervals
time and time again
vsover and over again
  • Informal
68 1.8

Very often on many occasions

is a neutral term that also means many repetitions
many a time
vsover and over again
8 2.6

It happens often

is the neutral expression for repeated occurrences
repetitively
vsover and over again
3 3.5

Again and again in the same way, often causing boredom or annoyance

focuses only on repetition without implying monotony
umpteen times
vsover and over again
  • Informal
1 6.3

A very large number of times that are hard to count

is the neutral many times idea without informal exaggeration
recurrently
vsover and over again
1 4.3

Happens again and again at regular times

is the simple many times sense without interval detail

Antonyms

once
∞ 1.0

Happens on a single occasion in the past or future

seldom
118 1.7

Not happening or done very often

How Often

constantly
740 1.0
over and over again
303 1.0
frequently
411 1.0
often
∞ 1.0
sometimes
∞ 1.0
rarely
508 1.0
never
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

over and over again positive

Morphology

over + and + over + again

The meaning 'repeatedly' is directly signalled by the repetition of 'over' and the adverb 'again' — 'over' can mean 'again' in phrasal use (do it over), and duplicating it (over and over) clearly indicates repetition. This compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Over and over again may come from the clear image of the word over being repeated, like painting the same spot or practicing a line many times. That's why it means 'repeatedly'.