from time to time

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

from time to time

1. (idiomatic) Occasionally; sometimes; once in a while.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:occasionally

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     I'll find out your man, / And he shall signify from time to time / Every good hap to you that chances here.

   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter XXV, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

     On these red embers Hatteraick from time to time threw a handful of twigs.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   • 1922 October, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Part III. The Fire Sermon.”, in The Waste Land, 1st book edition, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published December 1922, →OCLC, page 29, lines 196–197:

     But at my back from time to time I hear / The sound of horns and motors, […]

   • 1960 December, Cecil J. Allen, “Operating a mountain main line: the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 743:

     From time to time the coaches of the Lötschberg Railway itself, which in comfort and décor can rank with the finest in Europe today, travel far from the frontiers of Switzerland on through workings such as these.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Protheans: Data Discs Codex entry:

     Despite all the evidence confirming the existence of the Protheans, little is known about their culture and society. From time to time, dig sites will yield new clues, but after 50,000 years of decay, little of value is unearthed.

   • 2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30:

     Life on Earth has developed over billions of years, largely unaffected by the solar storms that wash over our planet from time to time.

2. (law) In whatever status exists at various times.
   • 2015, Richard Painter, Ann Holmes, Cases and Materials on Employment Law, page 90:

     This is another way of saying that the terms of the individual contracts are in part to be found in the agreed collective agreements as they exist from time to time […]

3. (obsolete) Continuously from one time to another; at all times, constantly.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     So was she trayned vp from time to time, / In all chast vertue, and true bounti-hed / Till to her dew perfection she was ripened.