3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Occasional \Oc*ca"sion*al\, a. [Cf.F. occasionnel.]
1. Of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; occuring
at times, but not constant, regular, or systematic; made
or happening as opportunity requires or admits; casual;
incidental; as occasional remarks, or efforts.
The . . . occasional writing of the present times.
--Bagehot.
2. Produced by accident; as the occasional origin of a
thing [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
{Occasional cause} (Metaph.), some circumstance preceding an
effect which without being the real cause becomes the
occasion of the action of the efficient cause thus the
act of touching gunpowder with fire is the occasional, but
not the efficient, cause of an explosion.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
occasional
adj 1: occurring from time to time; "took an occasional glass of
wine" [syn: {occasional(a)}]
2: occurring or appearing at usually irregular intervals;
"episodic in his affections"; "occasional headaches" [syn:
{episodic}]
3: employed in a specified capacity from time to time; "casual
employment"; "a casual correspondence with a former
teacher"; "an occasional worker" [syn: {casual}]
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
OCCASIONAL, adj Afflicting us with greater or less frequency. That
however, is not the sense in which the word is used in the phrase
"occasional verses," which are verses written for an "occasion," such
as an anniversary, a celebration or other event. True, they afflict
us a little worse than other sorts of verse, but their name has no
reference to irregular recurrence.
more about occasional
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