Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Occurring at irregular intervals or in isolated or scattered places; having no pattern or order: synonym: periodic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Separate; single; scattered; occurring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind; widely or irregularly scattered; of exceptional occurrence (in a given locality); straggling.
  • In phytogeography, distributed in several regions: so used specifically by A. P. de Candolle (French sporadique), in contrast with endemic, of plant genera whose species are thus distributed. Compare polydemic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Occurring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind, or in scattered instances; separate; single
  • adjective (Med.) a disease which occurs in single and scattered cases. See the Note under Endemic, a.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Rare and scattered in occurrence.
  • adjective Exhibiting random behavior; patternless.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin sporadicus, scattered, from Greek sporadikos, from sporas, sporad-; see sper- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • And so I think it's a whole new paradigm for pollsters right now, because they're not sure how to reach these new voters and what they call sporadic voters, which the Obama campaign really thinks they're getting to.

    CNN Transcript Oct 31, 2008 2008

  • They've done a good job in reaching out to what we call sporadic voters.

    CNN Transcript Nov 3, 2008 2008

  • But the forward element of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines has pushed into this troubled area and they have reported what they call sporadic fighting that has been taking place up there.

    CNN Transcript Apr 5, 2003 2003

  • But the forward element of the 1st Battalion 7th Marines has pushed into this troubled area and they have reported what they call sporadic fighting that has been taking place up there.

    CNN Transcript Apr 5, 2003 2003

  • And so -- yeah, we met [at the Republican National Convention] and kind of kept in sporadic touch and then met up Christmas last year.

    'Daily Show's' John Oliver engaged to Kate Norley Liz Kelly 2010

  • He attempted occasional comebacks, but the last 40 years of his career were spent in sporadic engagements in Las Vegas and in second-tier concert halls.

    Eddie Fisher dies at 82; 1950s singing star brought low by scandalous love life Matt Schudel 2010

  • Guards at the U.N. compound and Afghan policemen who responded to the site engaged in sporadic gun fights with the three attackers, who were killed by Afghan security forces.

    Suicide Bombers Attack UN Compound In Afghanistan AP 2010

  • Guards at the U.N. compound and Afghan policemen who responded to the site engaged in sporadic gun fights with the three attackers, who were killed by Afghan security forces.

    Suicide Bombers Attack UN Compound In Afghanistan AP 2010

  • Guards at the U.N. compound and Afghan policemen who responded to the site engaged in sporadic gun fights with the three attackers, who were killed by Afghan security forces.

    Suicide Bombers Attack UN Compound In Afghanistan The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • He was lying on his side taking in his breath in short sporadic heaves.

    Nunc Stans Marc R. Johnson 2010

Comments

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  • This is a delightful example of a word that sounds exactly like what it means, and both the sound and meaning intrigue me. I bet there is even a word for "a word that sounds like what it means"...is there?

    September 20, 2011

  • Words that represent “the sound of the thing signified” are onomatopoeic (or, if you prefer, onomatopœic or onomatopoetic); the property itself (as well as its use) is called onomatopoeia. (Wordnik is crawling with lists of examples.)

    September 20, 2011

  • Thanks! I remember that word now. Not sure where I discovered it originally though.

    September 20, 2011