occasionally

From occasional +‎ -ly.

• IPA^(key): /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, /əˈkeɪʒnəli/, /əˈkeɪʒənli/

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• Hyphenation: oc‧ca‧sion‧al‧ly, oc‧casi‧onal‧ly, oc‧casion‧ally

occasionally (comparative more occasionally, superlative most occasionally)

1. (obsolete) On the occasion of something else happening; incidentally, by the way. [15th–18th c.]
   • 1588, G[abriel] H[arvey], “The Fourth Letter. To the Same Favourable or Indifferent Reader.”, in J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Fovre Letters, and Certaine Sonnets, […] (Miscellaneous Tracts Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n., published 1870], OCLC 907145924, page 56:

     Were nothing els diſcourſively inſerted (as ſome little elſe occaſionally preſented it ſelfe), what paper more currently fit for the bareſt mechanicall uſes, [...]

   • 1619, John Richardson, John Toland, The canon of the New Testament Vindicated, page 30

     I think it is plain, that Origen, whatever Character he may have occaſionally given of this Book, did not judge it any part of the Canon...

2. From time to time; sometimes; at relatively infrequent intervals. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: now and then, once in a while

   • 1639, Henry Ainsworth, Annotations Upon the Five Books of Moses, the Book of the Psalmes and the Song of Songs, page 177.

     God ſetteth no houres for the morning or evening ſacrifice because they may occaſionally be changed.

   • 1855, Horace Mann, "On the Statistical Position of Religious Bodies in England and Wales," Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 18, no. 2, p. 152,

     Some perhaps worship only on alternate Sundays; others still more occasionally.

   • 1978, Stephen R. Graubard, "Twenty Years of 'Daedalus'," Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 18,

     The journal, more occasionally, has turned to what might be called "fashionable" themes.

   • 2007, Matt Gouras/AP, "Wildfires Rage in Montana," Time, 17 Aug,

     Flames could still be seen from town flaring up occasionally on a hill dotted with emergency vehicles.

3. (obsolete) By chance; accidentally. [17th–18th c.]
   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CLXI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815:

     Mr Tourville occasionally told his age; just turned of thirty-one.

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 81, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], published 1781, OCLC 316121541:

     [N]othing gave him so much joy in conversation, as an opportunity of giving the company to understand, how well he was with persons of distinguished rank and character: he would often (for example) observe, as it were occasionally, that the duke of G— was one of the best natured men in the world […] .

   • 1790, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 103:

     I had met Lord Ossory in the forenoon, who had come to town occasionally.

• on occasion, sometimes, at times, now and then, see Thesaurus:occasionally