intermittent

intermittent — adjective

1. Something that is intermittent does not happen in a steady, unbroken way — it al

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

Something that is intermittent does not happen in a steady, unbroken way — it alternates between being active and being paused, with breaks that can be short or long.

Example

The café's intermittent Wi-Fi made it hard for Brandon to finish his work.

attributive: intermittent + noun

Jisoo's migraines were intermittent — a month without one followed by two in a single week.

predicative: be + intermittent

Common collocations
  • intermittent rain
  • intermittent pain
  • intermittent signal
  • intermittent fasting
  • intermittent bursts
Synonyms
  • sporadic

    Emphasises unpredictability; scattered occurrences with no clear pattern, while 'intermittent' emphasises an active cycle of stopping and starting.

  • occasional

    Softer in tone — means happening from time to time, but does not strongly suggest repeated cycles of stopping and starting.

  • fitful

    More literary; suggests restless or uneasy stopping and starting, especially of sleep, breathing, or effort.

Antonyms
  • continuous

    Happening without any break or pause.

  • steady

    Happening in a regular, even, and predictable way.

  • constant

    Happening all the time without stopping.

Grammar Patterns

intermittent + noun

be + intermittent

Usage Note

Frequently used in medical contexts (intermittent pain, intermittent symptoms), weather reports (intermittent rain or showers), and technical contexts (intermittent signal or connection). Can be used both before a noun ('an intermittent noise') and after a linking verb ('the noise was intermittent').

Common Mistakes

The bus comes at intermittent 10-minute intervals.
The bus comes at regular 10-minute intervals.
'intermittent' describes an unpredictable stop-start pattern, not something that happens at fixed times.
She felt continuous back pain that came and went.
She felt intermittent back pain that came and went.
'continuous' means without a break, but 'intermittent' means with breaks.

Word family

  • intermittently
    adverbB2
  • intermittence
    nounC2
  • intermission
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe things that happen less than 'continuous' or 'constant', but they differ in pattern and tone. 'Intermittent' suggests a clear cycle of starting, stopping, and starting again — like a blinking light or on-and-off rain. 'Sporadic' emphasises unpredictability and irregular scattering, with no sense of a repeating cycle (e.g., sporadic gunfire). 'Occasional' is the gentlest term, simply meaning 'happening from time to time' with no strong sense of interruption (e.g., an occasional cup of coffee). 'Periodic' is the opposite of intermittent in regularity: it means happening at regular, fixed intervals (e.g., a periodic health check every six months). 'Fitful' is more literary and implies uneasy, restless breaks — typically used for sleep, breathing, or progress. You might say 'intermittent rain throughout the day' if it keeps starting and stopping, but 'fitful sleep plagued the patient all night' if the sleep was broken and restless.

sporadicoccasional ↗periodic ↗fitful

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • only intermittent
  • somewhat intermittent

Phrases

  • on an intermittent basis

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

From Latin 'intermittere' — 'inter-' (between) and 'mittere' (to send, to let go) — literally 'to send or put between', meaning 'to leave a space, to pause'. English adopted it in the 1500s to describe things that leave gaps between occurrences.