as in on and off
not constantly or steadily over a period of time
They've been dating off and on for almost a year.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of off and on
Both off and on the festival grounds, these brands host a series of parties, pop-ups and other VIP events that lavish celebrities, influencers and artists with premium experiences.
—
Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Just then the lights in the apartment flicked off and on, then off again, leaving them in the dark, so Louise hung up.
—Catherine Lacey, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026
Gadiano worked in the fields off and on from childhood into middle age.
—Kerry Klein, NPR, 31 Mar. 2026
That action could be done on a seasonal basis, or off and on during the summer.
—Chuck Fieldman, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for off and on
Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Just then the lights in the apartment flicked off and on, then off again, leaving them in the dark, so Louise hung up.
—Catherine Lacey, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026
Gadiano worked in the fields off and on from childhood into middle age.
—Kerry Klein, NPR, 31 Mar. 2026
That action could be done on a seasonal basis, or off and on during the summer.
—Chuck Fieldman, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for off and on
Recent Examples of Synonyms for off and on
Adverb
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Rather than dispersing plants sporadically, grouping them can significantly enhance their impact.—
Nolan Lewis,
Architectural Digest,
27 Apr. 2026
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Reblooming bigleaf hydrangeas, for example, begin blooming in early summer and continue flowering sporadically until the first frost.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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Other possibilities include faulty wheel speed sensors or a brake pedal switch that’s intermittently failing.—
Hartford Courant,
Hartford Courant,
25 Apr. 2026
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Water District General Manager Erica Wolski said roads on Wildcat Canyon and San Vicente will have lane closures intermittently during the project.—
Julie Gallant,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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The staff manning the cart periodically struck the metal tops of the bottles of Clase Azul, a flourish that caused a few jumps among the more skittish attendees.—
Aidan McLaughlin,
Vanity Fair,
26 Apr. 2026
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Shake the mixture and then spray it periodically on the lower leaves and stems of your garden plants.—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
25 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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Given this, what still surprises me is how rarely art schools teach the business realities of being an artist – and how often artists cling to the belief that their art alone will make their careers.—
Magnus Resch,
ARTnews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
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The wounds and humiliations of private life can rarely be redressed by law; literature offers a parallel tribunal in which those hurts are litigated and, if possible, imaginatively overcome.—
Charlie Tyson,
The Atlantic,
27 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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Those tax cuts seldom were offset by increasing other types of taxes.—
David A. Lieb,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
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American law doesn’t prohibit someone from being sent to another country, but immigration officials seldom did so, according to Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, an immigrant rights advocacy organization.—
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Off and on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off%20and%20on. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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