frequent

frequent — adjective

1. happening many times within a short period or at close intervals; occurring agai

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

happening many times within a short period or at close intervals; occurring again and again.

Example

Trang makes frequent trips to the library to borrow new books for her research.

frequent trips — common noun collocation for journeys

The patient experienced frequent headaches after the car accident last spring.

frequent + symptom (headaches, coughs, infections)

Common collocations
  • frequent visits
  • frequent changes
  • frequent use
  • frequent complaints
  • frequent occurrence
  • frequent flyer
  • frequent communication
  • frequent contact
Synonyms
  • common

    focuses on prevalence or wide distribution among a group, not necessarily on rate

  • repeated

    emphasises that something happens more than once, often in succession

  • regular

    suggests an even or predictable pattern of occurrence

  • constant

    stronger — implies happening without pause or interruption

Antonyms
  • rare

    opposite in frequency — happens seldom or at long intervals

  • infrequent

    direct antonym; less common in everyday speech

  • occasional

    happens from time to time, but not often

Grammar Patterns

frequent + noun

Usage Note

Nearly always used before a noun (attributive position). The adverb 'frequently' is preferred in predicate position: 'Her visits are frequent' is grammatical but less common than 'She visits frequently.'

Common Mistakes

He visits frequent.
He visits frequently.
'frequent' is an adjective, not an adverb; use 'frequently' to modify verbs.
That is a frequent mistake among beginners.
That is a common mistake among beginners.
'frequent' describes rate of occurrence over time; 'common' describes widespread prevalence.
I had a frequent headache yesterday.
I had a bad headache yesterday.
'frequent' describes something that happens many times, not a single event.

frequent — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe something that happens more than once, but they differ in what they emphasise. 'Frequent' highlights a high rate of occurrence over time — events come one after another with little space between them ('frequent delays during rush hour'). 'Common' focuses on how widespread something is among a group or population ('a common cold'), not necessarily on how often it happens to one individual. 'Regular' implies a predictable, even pattern ('regular check-ups every six months') and often carries a positive or neutral tone. 'Repeated' simply states that something happens more than once ('repeated attempts to call'), without saying anything about intervals or predictability. In everyday writing, choose 'frequent' when the key point is tight spacing between events, 'common' when it is about prevalence, 'regular' when there is a pattern, and 'repeated' when emphasising the sheer fact of recurrence.

frequent ↗common ↗regular ↗repeated ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • quite frequent
  • increasingly frequent
  • less frequent
  • fairly frequent

Phrases

  • on a frequent basis
  • at frequent intervals
  • with frequent regularity

Prepositions

  • frequent in
  • frequent among

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

From Latin 'frequent-' (stem of 'frequens'), meaning 'crowded, repeated, done often'. The original sense related to physical crowding or thronging together; by the 15th century, English had already developed both the adjective meaning 'occurring often' and the verb meaning 'to visit or inhabit a place in large numbers'. The verb later narrowed to the idea of habitual visiting by an individual or group.