intermittent
UK/ˌɪntəˈmɪtn̩t//ˌɪntɚˈmɪtn̩t/
intermittent adjective: stopping and starting, occurring, or presenting at intervals; coming after a particular time span.
Adjective
intermittent (comparative more intermittent, superlative most intermittent)
- Stopping and starting, occurring, or presenting at intervals; coming after a particular time span.
- The day was cloudy with intermittent rain.
- Intermittent bugs are most difficult to reproduce.
- Synonyms:
- periodic, periodical, patchy, spasmodic, broken, fitful, ragged, catchy, discontinuous, intermissive
- Existing only for certain seasons; that is, being dry for part of the year.
- The area has many intermittent lakes and streams.
Noun
intermittent (plural intermittents)
- An intermittent fever or disease.
- Feuers, and especially those that are called intermittents, discontinuing agues, euen naturally at the beginning and their first inuasion, cause vomits: and at the declining, sweats.1592, Nicholas Gyer, chapter 16, in The English Phlebotomy: or, Method and Way of Healing by Letting of Blood, London: Andrew Mansell, page 172
- The Bark, which had been ineffectual in the Intermittents of the former Year, was successful in this.1733, John Arbuthnot, chapter 6, in An Essay concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, London: J. Tonson, page 144
intermittent meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
intermittent in Tamil
- இடை விட்டு நிகழ்கின்ற, இடைவிட்டு நிகழ்கிற, இடையிட்ட, இடையறவுபட்ட, இடைவிட்ட, இடை வெளிப்பட்ட
intermittent in Bengali
- সবিরাম, থেমে থেমে হওয়া, অনিয়মিত
intermittent in Malayalam
- ഉള്ളിലേക്കു ചെലുത്തുന്ന
intermittent in Kannada
- ತಡೆತಡೆದು ಬರುವ, ಎಡೆಬಿಟ್ಟು ನಡೆಯುವ, ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಿಟ್ಟುಬರುವ, ತಡೆ ತಡೆದು ಬರುವ
More languagesFewer languages
- intermittent in Nepali
- अन्तरायिक
- intermittent in Tagalog
- gatol
- intermittent in Arabic
- مُتَقَطِّع mutaqaṭṭiʕ, مَوْسِمِيّ mawsimiyy
- intermittent in Thai
- เป็น ๆ หาย ๆ, เป็นช่วง ๆ, เป็นพัก ๆ, เป็นระยะ
Examples of intermittent in a sentence
- Also bloudletting is good in feuers, whether they be continual or intermittent […]1564, Philip Moore, chapter 13, in The Hope of Health, London:
- […] by degrees the talk became as flickering and intermittent as the light of the dying fire, which they were too idle to feed with sticks […]1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 20, in Lud-in-the-Mist, London: Millennium, published 2000, page 193:
- […] three scruffy-looking young men with intermittent facial hair and starvation-symptom physiques.2015, John Irving, chapter 18, in Avenue of Mysteries, New York: Simon and Schuster, page 238:
- To its influence in inflammation, we have already alluded; but it is no less exemplified in the more general diseases of the frame, as in the cold, hot, and sweating stages of an intermittent.1832, Robley Dunglison, “Circulation”, in Human Physiology, volume 2, Philadelphia: Carey & Lea, page 146:
Synonyms of intermittent
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of intermittent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more intermittent |
| superlative | most intermittent |
| Noun | |
| plural | intermittents |
Origin of intermittent
From Middle French intermittent, from Latin intermittens (“sending between”), from prefix inter- (“among, on”) + mittens (“sending”), from mittere (“to send”).
Words formed from intermittent
Phrases with intermittent
Questions about intermittent
- What does intermittent mean?
- Intermittent means stopping and starting, occurring, or presenting at intervals; coming after a particular time span.
- What is intermittent in Tamil?
- Intermittent in Tamil is இடை விட்டு நிகழ்கின்ற, இடைவிட்டு நிகழ்கிற, இடையிட்ட. See Intermittent meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use intermittent in a sentence?
- Also bloudletting is good in feuers, whether they be continual or intermittent […]
- What part of speech is intermittent?
- Intermittent can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce intermittent?
- Intermittent is pronounced /ˌɪntəˈmɪtn̩t/ (UK).
Words near intermittent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intermittent (page history and authors); intermittent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Intermittent (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intermittent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intermittent (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intermittent (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-intermittent.ogg.
Cite this entry: “intermittent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intermittent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.