once or twice
88
1.6
- idiom
:
una o dos veces
- Many women tried the drug once or twice and then never again.
- once or twice a week
- once or twice a month
- once or twice a year
Like I may have cried once or twice in your dressing room.
- Like I may have cried once or twice in your dressing room.
- I, I have meat once or twice a month, right?
- There are a lot of people who say, but I tried once or twice and it didn't work out.
- And then for two weeks after that, it was once or twice a week.
- My mum will watch that show probably once or twice a month.
- People came together once or twice a year to trade goods, find their spouses.
- And I was going out there probably at least once or twice a month.
- The two others have only done it once or twice.
- And like every no, once or twice I've like gone on eBay.
- I spoke to Christophe Koch once or twice for for this project I'm working on now.
- Huckleberry, I think I've only had that maybe once or twice in my life in the past.
Examples
-
Physical education observations were made once or twice a week where possible over a 19-week period.
Academic text (1998) -
And then for two weeks after that, it was once or twice a week.
-
I use that once or twice a week probably.
-
I think I made it once or twice and then kind of fell from there.
-
But I have got it to work once or twice, but only for a few seconds.
-
Now we see each other once or twice a year when he and Joan visit Los Angeles.
Academic text (2010) -
Like, I don't have to charge this thing, but maybe once or twice a week Max.
-
Response options were daily, once or twice a week, three times or more a week, or seldom.
Academic text (2005) -
She sees him once or twice a year
-
I try to visit my grandmother once or twice a month.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
On some occasions but not always
539
1.0
Happens only a few times
451
1.0
Happens sometimes but not often
438
2.0
Happens sometimes but not often
427
1.6
Sometimes, but not very often
285
1.0
Happens sometimes but not very often
267
1.4
Happens sometimes but not regularly
137
2.0
Sometimes, not very often
122
1.7
Not happening or done very often
79
1.7
It happens sometimes but not very often
73
2.0
Happens sometimes but not regularly
54
2.3
Happens sometimes but not very often
41
2.4
Happens sometimes, but not very often
16
5.0
Happening only sometimes
Does not happen often
Not happening often
Antonyms
How Often
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'on one or two occasions' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'once' (one time) and 'twice' (two times) joined by 'or' to indicate an alternative; a learner who knows the constituent words can infer the limited number of occurrences. This simple coordinative and numeric pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard compositional semantics, so an average B1 learner will understand it without prior exposure.
Etymology
The adverb once or twice comes from the simple image of counting with fingers: you say once and then twice to show just one or two quick times. So, it means 'a few times but not very often'.