time and time again
68
1.8
- idiom
- Informal
- The coach emphasized time and time again that practice is essential for improvement.
- seen time and time again
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Watch on YouTubeYou may need to do that time and time again, and that's OK.
- You may need to do that time and time again, and that's OK.
- You guys, time and time again this theme keeps popping up.
- And I relive that time and time again and it's awful.
- The mainstream media misled US time and time again, and so did the police.
- And I have seen this time and time again play out incredibly well.
- You have heard me say time and time again, the foster care system is broken.
- And, you know, people ruin their own deals time and time again with too much information.
- But yet time and time again, people continue to do that.
- Like you've proven yourself time and time again like that.
- And I've proven it to myself time and time and time again.
- I think history has proven time and time again that the British government's done it.
Examples
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God tests you time and time again.
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And I have seen this time and time again play out incredibly well.
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Folks, I said it time and time again in this program.
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But yet time and time again, people continue to do that.
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Here they are, and these people are showing us time and time again exactly who they are.
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Or they talk only about the same thing, time and time again.
Fiction book (1993) -
You have heard me say time and time again, the foster care system is broken.
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And yet time and time again, circumstance forced the two men to work together.
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Time and time again, the competition for this limited amount of dollars out there can make the best of us manic.
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Traits such as dedication, drive, and a positive orientation toward people emerged time and time again.
Academic text (1991)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Happens many times
584
1.0
Many times in a row
411
1.0
Happening many times in a short time
390
1.0
It happens again and again
378
1.0
Often at the same or fixed times
303
1.0
Happens many times
243
1.0
Many times on different occasions
123
1.8
Happens again and again
111
2.3
Happens often at set times
87
4.9
Happens many times, usually within a short time
38
9.9
On many occasions
8
2.6
It happens often
3
3.5
Again and again in the same way, often causing boredom or annoyance
1
9.9
On many occasions
1
6.3
A very large number of times that are hard to count
1
4.3
Happens again and again at regular times
Antonyms
How Often
740
1.0
- Informal
68
1.8
411
1.0
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
407
2.0
508
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'repeatedly' is directly and transparently derived from the constituents: the repetition of 'time' plus 'again' signals many occasions. This kind of reduplicative/intensifying pattern (time and time = many times) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase time and time again comes from the picture of a clock going round and round and from saying time twice to show the same thing happens many times. That's why it means 'very often' or 'repeatedly'.