Adjacent Words

Often definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OFTEN, adv. of'n. comp. oftener; superl. oftenset. Frequently; many times; not seldom.
OFTEN, a. of'n. Frequent. [Improper.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adv
1: many times at short intervals; "we often met over a cup of coffee" [syn: frequently, often, oftentimes, oft, ofttimes] [ant: infrequently, rarely, seldom]
2: frequently or in great quantities; "I don't drink much"; "I don't travel much" [syn: much, a great deal, often]
3: in many cases or instances

Merriam Webster's

adverb Etymology: Middle English, alteration of oft Date: 14th century many times ; frequently

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adv. (oftener, oftenest) 1 a frequently; many times. b at short intervals. 2 in many instances. Phrases and idioms: as often as not in roughly half the instances. Etymology: ME: extended f. OFT, prob. after selden = SELDOM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Often Of`ten, adv. [Compar. Oftener; superl. Oftenest.] [Formerly also ofte, fr. oft. See Oft., adv.] Frequently; many times; not seldom.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Often Of"ten, a. Frequent; common; repeated. [R.] ``Thine often infirmities.'' --1 Tim. v. 23. And weary thee with often welcomes. --Beau. & Fl.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. Note: 'Often' is usually used before the verb, but it may be used after the verb when it has a word like 'less' or 'more' before it, or when the clause is negative. 1. If something often happens, it happens many times or much of the time. They often spent Christmas at Prescott Hill... It was often hard to work and do the course at the same time... That doesn't happen very often. ? rarely ADV: ADV before v, ADV with cl/group 2. You use how often to ask questions about frequency. You also use often in reported clauses and other statements to give information about the frequency of something. How often do you brush your teeth?... Unemployed Queenslanders were victims of personal crime twice as often as employed people. ADV: how ADV, as ADV as n/cl 3. If something happens every so often, it happens regularly, but with fairly long intervals between each occasion. She's going to come back every so often... Every so often he would turn and look at her. = occasionally PHRASE: PHR with cl 4. If you say that something happens as often as not, or more often than not, you mean that it happens fairly frequently, and that this can be considered as typical of the kind of situation you are talking about. Yet, as often as not, they find themselves the target of persecution rather than praise... PHRASE: PHR with cl

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

of'-n (puknos, "thick," "close"): An archaic usage for "frequent": "Thine often infirmities" (1Ti 5:23); compare "by often rumination" (Shakespeare, As You Like It, IV, i, 18); "The often round" (Ben Jonson, The Forest, III); "Of wrench'd or broken limb--an often chance" (Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

ad. Frequently, repeatedly, many times, oftentimes, ofttimes (poetical).

Moby Thesaurus

again and again, commonly, continually, day after day, day by day, frequently, habitually, in many instances, many a time, many times, many times over, most often, much, not infrequently, not seldom, oft, often enough, oftentimes, ofttimes, ordinarily, over and over, recurrently, regularly, repeatedly, routinely, several times, time after time, time and again, times without number, unseldom, usually, whenever you wish, year after year