Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not occurring regularly; occasional or rare.
  • adjective Situated or placed at rather wide intervals, as in time or space.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not frequent or customary; rare; uncommon; unaccustomed.
  • In zoology, being, as component parts, far removed from one another; distant; not numerous or close: as, infrequent spines, punctures, etc.
  • In botany, distant; sparsely placed: said of punctures, glands, hairs, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Seldom happening or occurring; rare; uncommon; unusual.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not frequent; not happening frequently.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not frequent; not occurring regularly or at short intervals

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Drinks are also given only in infrequent intervals, often hours apart.

    Boing Boing: July 7, 2002 - July 13, 2002 Archives 2002

  • It had been a hard day, for all it had been a "vacation one" (as she termed the infrequent days when there was no sewing or cooking lesson), and Pollyanna was sure that nothing would do her quite so much good as a walk through the green quiet of Pendleton Woods.

    Pollyanna 1912

  • It had been a hard day, for all it had been a "vacation one" (as she termed the infrequent days when there was no sewing or cooking lesson), and

    Pollyanna 1894

  • The findings didn't change much when the team factored in markers of social isolation, such as infrequent participation in social events.

    Study links seniors' loneliness to higher risk of dementia 2007

  • Pfizer said the report's findings are consistent with the drug's label, which lists many of the events cited in the institute's report as "infrequent" or "rare."

    Report Links Pfizer Drug 2008

  • I swear, if after next Thursday's line check the tech claims it's okay, and the CSO shows signs of asking me to call back when my problem is "more serious", (can you believe he was asking me to do that because my once-every-7-hour disconnection is "infrequent") he/she is going to have a seriously bad day.

    j-gan Diary Entry j-gan 2008

  • That lists most of the events cited in the institute's report as "infrequent" or "rare."

    Trucking Regulators Warn on Use of Chantix 2008

  • The departments expected to save R100 million per month thanks to improved efficiency and the reduction of fraud - as well as the elimination of problems such as infrequent or over-servicing, over-charging and general mismanagement.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1999

  • The new rules will not affect concession stands at sporting events or after-hours fundraisers; the USDA has yet to decide what the law intended when it allowed "infrequent" bake sales.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • The word random often is misinterpreted as "infrequent," but true randomness merely lacks a pattern.

    SI.com 2010

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