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intermittent

[in-ter-mit-nt]

Origin

adjective

stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and beginning again: an intermittent pain.

alternately functioning and not functioning or alternately functioning properly and improperly.

(of streams, lakes, or springs) recurrent; showing water only part of the time.

Origin:
1595–1605; < Latin intermittent- (stem of intermittēns) present participle of intermittere to intermit; see -ent

Related forms

in·ter·mit·tence, in·ter·mit·ten·cy, noun

in·ter·mit·tent·ly, adverb

non·in·ter·mit·tence, noun

non·in·ter·mit·tent, adjective

non·in·ter·mit·tent·ly, adverb

EXPAND

non·in·ter·mit·tent·ness, noun

un·in·ter·mit·tent, adjective

un·in·ter·mit·tent·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: continual, continuous, intermittent (see usage note at continual).

Synonyms
1. interrupted, sporadic.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Intermittent is a GRE word you need to know.

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to seek answers that the person questioned considers personal or secret

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Collins

World English Dictionary

intermittent (ˌɪntəˈmɪt^ənt)

—*adj*
	occurring occasionally or at regular or irregular intervals; periodic

inter'mittence

—n

inter'mittency

—n

inter'mittently

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

intermittent

c.1600, from L. intermittentem (nom. intermittens), prp. of intermittere (see intermission).

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

intermittent in·ter·mit·tent (ĭn'tər-mĭt'nt)
adj.

Stopping and starting at intervals.
Marked by intervals of complete quietude occurring between two periods of activity.

in'ter·mit'tence n.

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Matching Quote

"Kitchens were different then, too—not only what came out of them, but their smells and sounds. A hot pie cooling smells different from a frozen pie thawing. Oilcloth and linoleum and apples in an open bowl and ruffled rubber aprons make a different aromatic mix from Formica and ceramic tile and mangoes in an acrylic fruit ripener and plastic-coated aprons printed with "Who invited all these tacky people?" And the kitchen sounds. I am not sure that today's kitchen is noisier. But the noises are different. Today you get the song of the food processor and the blender, the intermittent hum of the reefer and the freezer, the buzz-slosh-and-grunt of the dishwasher, the violently audible digestive processes of the waste disposal in the sink. Then it was the whir and clatter of the hand-powered eggbeater, the thunk-thunk-thunk of somebody mashing potatoes, or, in green-pea season, the crisp pop of pea pod and the rattle-rattle-rattle of peas into the pan."

-Peg Bracken

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