from time to time

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Prepositional phrase

from time to time

1. (idiomatic) Occasionally; sometimes; once in a while.
   • c. 1595 William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, scene 3:

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

   • 1815, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 25, in Guy Mannering:

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

   • Template:RQ:Chmbrs YngrSt

     “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, T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, ll.196-197:

     But at my back from time to time I hear / The sound of horns and motors.

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.

Translations

occasionally

• Arabic: بَيْنَ ٱلْحِينِ وَٱلْآخَرِ (bayna l-ḥīni wal-ʔāḵari)
• Azerbaijani: hərdən bir
• Bulgarian: от време на време (ot vreme na vreme)
• Catalan: de tant en tant
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 耐唔耐 (noi⁶ m⁴ noi^6-2)

  Mandarin: 偶爾／偶尔 (zh) (ǒu'ěr), 偶尔 (zh) (ǒu'ěr), 不時／不时 (zh) (bùshí), 不时 (zh) (bùshí), 間或／间或 (zh) (jiànhuò), 间或 (zh) (jiànhuò)

• Czech: čas od času (cs), občas (cs)
• Danish: fra tid til anden, nu og da
• Dutch: van tijd tot tijd
• Esperanto: de tempo al tempo
• Finnish: toisinaan (fi), ajoittain (fi), silloin tällöin (fi), aika ajoin (fi)
• French: de temps en temps (fr)
• Georgian: დროდადრო (drodadro), დროგამოშვებით (drogamošvebit)
• German: von Zeit zu Zeit (de)
• Greek: από καιρό σε καιρό (apó kairó se kairó), από καιρού εις καιρόν (apó kairoú eis kairón) (idiomatic), πού και πού (el) (poú kai poú)
• Hebrew: לְעִתִּים (le'itím)
• Hungarian: időnként (hu)
• Ido: de tempo a tempo
• Irish: ó am go ham
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: di tanto in tanto (it), ogni tanto (it), di quando in quando
• Japanese: 時々 (ja) (ときどき, tokidoki)
• Korean: 가끔 (ko) (gakkeum), 때때로 (ko) (ttaettaero)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fra tid til annen, nå og da, av og til (no), i ny og ne, iblant (no), en gang imellom

  Nynorsk: frå tid til annan, nå og då, av og til

• Persian: گهگاه (fa) (gahgâh), گاه به گاه (fa) (gâh be gâh), هر از گاهی (har-az-gâhi), هر چند وقت یک بار (har-cand-vaqt-yek-bâr)
• Polish: od czasu do czasu (pl)
• Portuguese: de vez em quando (pt)
• Romanian: din când în când
• Russian: вре́мя от вре́мени (ru) (vrémja ot vrémeni), времена́ми (ru) (vremenámi), поро́й (ru) (porój), иногда́ (ru) (inogdá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: с времена на време

  Roman: časomice (sh), s vremena na vreme

• Spanish: de vez en cuando (es), a veces (es)
• Swahili: mara kwa mara (sw)
• Swedish: då och då (sv), stundom (sv)
• Tagalog: paminsan-minsan, pana-panahon (tl)
• Turkish: zaman zaman (tr)

See also

• every now and then
• now and again
• now and then