INDEX:
1. when something happens many times
2. too often, in a way that is annoying
3. ways of saying what someone or something often does
4. often happening or often done
5. how often something happens
RELATED WORDS
opposite
↑ NEVER
see also
↑ ALWAYS
↑ REGULAR/REGULARLY
↑ CONTINUE
↑ SOMETIMES
↑ USUALLY
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1. when something happens many times
▷ often /ˈɒf ə n, ˈɒft ə nǁˈɔːf-/ [adverb]
▪ I often see her walking past with the children on the way to school.
▪ Dad wasn’t often angry so I knew something terrible must have happened.
quite often
▪ ‘Have you ever been to the China Moon Café?’ ‘Yes -- we go there quite often.’
not very often
▪ I have a cell phone, but I don’t use it very often.
it’s not often (that) somebody does something
▪ It’s not often that you see a grass snake these days -- they’ve become quite rare.
▪ It’s not often I get the chance to go to the movies.
▷ a lot /ə ˈlɒtǁ-ˈlɑːt/ [adverb] spoken
if you do something a lot, you often do it :
▪ It’s nice to meet you. Wendy’s talked about you a lot.
▪ I used to walk a lot, but I’ve been very lazy recently.
quite a lot
British
▪ She goes abroad on business quite a lot.
▷ frequently /ˈfriːkwəntli/ [adverb]
often - used especially in writing or more formal speech :
▪ Passengers complain that trains are frequently cancelled.
▪ You have to be willing to change jobs frequently if you want to get to the top in business.
▪ Frequently, she would find herself gazing out of the window lost in thought.
▷ repeatedly /rɪˈpiːtɪdli, rɪˈpiːtədli/ [adverb]
use this to emphasize that someone did something many times :
▪ Graham’s doctor had repeatedly warned him not to work so hard.
▪ Max was punched and kicked repeatedly as he lay on the ground.
▪ Al Gore has stated repeatedly, that the American economy is dependent upon a healthy environment.
▷ again and again /əˌgen ənd əˈgen/ [adverb]
use this to emphasize that the same thing has happened many times :
▪ She kept asking the same question again and again.
▪ Again and again I was thrown upwards from my bunk as the ship battled through the storm.
▷ hundreds/thousands of times /ˈhʌndrɪdz, ˈhʌndrədz, ˈθaʊzəndz əv ˌtaɪmz/ [adverb] spoken
say this when you are emphasizing that someone has done something many times in the past :
▪ It was a sound he’d heard thousands of times before.
▪ My grandmother must have spoken to him hundreds of times but, surprisingly, she didn’t know his name.
▪ I’ve been rejected hundreds of times, but if you don’t try you never will get a job, will you?
▷ many times /ˈmeni taɪmz/ [adverb]
if someone has done something many times, they have done it often :
somebody has/had done something many times (before)
▪ I had walked down this road many times before, but somehow today it seemed different.
as somebody has/had done many times (before)
▪ The woman upstairs shouted down at us and threatened to call the police, as she had done many times before.
▪ I looked down at the town, as I had done so many times as a young man, and remembered the people I had known there.
2. too often, in a way that is annoying
▷ keep (on) doing something /ˌkiːp (ɒn) ˈduːɪŋ something/ [verb phrase not in progressive] especially spoken
to do something many times, in a way that is annoying :
▪ Dad, Bobby keeps hitting me!
▪ How can I explain if you keep on interrupting me?
▪ I keep forgetting to mail this letter.
▷ always/all the time /ˈɔːlwɪz, ˈɔːlwəz, ˌɔːl ðə ˈtaɪm/ [adverb]
if someone or something is always doing something, or someone or something does something all the time, it annoys you because they do it too often :
▪ I’m sick of Harold, he’s always telling me what to do.
▪ What do you mean you never see me? You’re at my house all the time.
▪ I don’t know about you, but I’m always having arguments with people!
▪ He was always trying to persuade me to go out drinking with him.
▷ constantly/continually /ˈkɒnstəntliǁˈkɑːn-, kənˈtɪnjuəli/ [adverb]
use this when you are very annoyed because something happens repeatedly over a long period of time :
▪ They seemed to be continually arguing.
▪ I wish you’d clean up your room without having to be constantly reminded.
▷ be forever doing something /biː fərˌevəʳ ˈduːɪŋ something/ [verb phrase] spoken
if someone or something is forever doing something, they annoy you by doing it very often over a long period of time :
▪ He never does his homework on time and is forever getting into trouble at school.
▪ We bought a new washing machine. The old one was forever breaking down.
▷ half the time /ˈhɑːf ðə ˌtaɪmǁˈhæf-/ [adverb] spoken
say this when you are describing something annoying or bad that someone does very often :
▪ Half the time the managers don’t know what’s going on.
▪ I never know where he is - half the time he doesn’t return my phone calls.
▷ time and time again /ˌtaɪm ə n taɪm əˈgen/ [adverb]
use this to say that something has been done many times, especially when this is annoying or does not have any effect :
▪ I’ve told you time and time again not to play with matches - it’s dangerous.
▪ I see people making the same mistakes, time and time again.
▷ with great regularity /wɪð ˌgreɪt regjɑˈlærə̇ti/ [adverb]
if something happens with great regularity, it keeps happening, often in an annoying way :
▪ Yes, the bank keep piling these outrageous charges on my bank account with great regularity.
▪ With great regularity, wasps would fly in through the open window and get trapped behind the glass.
▷ ad nauseam /ˌædˈnɔːziəm, -iæm/ [adverb]
if someone talks about something ad nauseam, they talk about it for so long that it becomes very annoying or boring :
▪ We’ve discussed this ad nauseam, and I don’t see the point of going over the same ground again.
▪ He goes on ad nauseam about how much better everything was in the old days.
3. ways of saying what someone or something often does
▷ tend to do something /ˌtend tə ˈduː something/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
to often do a particular thing, and be likely to do it :
▪ Dave tends to arrive late, so don’t worry yet.
▪ The problem with this model of car is that the gearbox tends to seize up.
▪ My father tends to interfere too much in other people’s business.
▪ Recent studies show that girls tend to be better at languages than boys.
▷ have a tendency to do something /hæv ə ˌtendənsi tə ˈduː something/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
to often do something and be more likely to do it than other people or things are :
▪ Divorced people have a tendency to live with new partners rather than marry again.
▪ It’s poor quality cloth, with a tendency to shrink.
▪ Eliott’s family has a tendency to put on weight, and so his parents enrolled him in a special gym for kids.
▷ be inclined to do something /biː ɪnˌklaɪnd tə ˈduː something/ [verb phrase]
if someone is inclined to do something, they do it fairly often or are fairly likely to do it, especially because they have a particular type of character :
▪ Victor is inclined to be somewhat domineering.
▪ Middle-class victims of crime are more inclined to contact the police.
▷ have a habit of doing something /hæv ə ˌhæbə̇t əv ˈduːɪŋ something/ [verb phrase not in progressive]
use this when you are warning someone that something has happened before and is likely to happen again :
▪ Be careful not to annoy the boss. He has a habit of losing his temper.
▪ We shouldn’t rule out a Democrat victory yet. These things have a habit of changing just when you least expect it.
▷ be apt to do something /biː ˌæpt tə ˈduː something/ [verb phrase] formal
to often do something or be likely to do something, especially at a particular time or in a particular situation :
▪ He was apt to get very upset when things went wrong.
▪ The pond was apt to dry up during summer.
4. often happening or often done
▷ frequent /ˈfriːkwənt/ [adjective]
▪ His job involved making frequent trips to Saudi Arabia.
▪ The doctor recommended frequent salt baths to help the wound heal.
▪ My duties brought me into frequent contact with Captain Nagumo.
▪ As the treatment began to take effect, her headaches became less frequent.
frequent visitor/traveller/flier etc
someone who visits, uses something etc frequently
▪ As a frequent business traveler, I have spent many nights in bland hotel rooms.
▪ Simmons is a frequent guest on daytime TV talk shows.
▷ repeated /rɪˈpiːtɪd, rɪˈpiːtəd/ [adjective only before noun]
repeated actions are done on several occasions, especially because they do not have any effect at first :
▪ The torture involved repeated beatings and electric shock treatment.
▪ There have been repeated requests for the United Nations to send peace-keeping forces to the area.
▪ Massieu remains a free man, despite repeated attempts to arrest him on murder and drug charges.
▷ habitual /həˈbɪtʃuəl/ [adjective]
done often as a habit, especially when this is annoying to other people :
▪ Ingrained attitudes and habitual ways of thinking are very difficult to change.
▪ Tony’s habitual laziness became even more extreme in winter, and he would sometimes stay in bed until mid afternoon.
:
habitual drinker/gambler/drug user/offender/felon etc
someone who does something bad or illegal
▪ My father was a habitual gambler, until my mother packed her bags and threatened to leave.
▪ It is estimated that as many as half the young men in the community are habitual drug users.
habitually [adverb]
▪ Bernstein habitually arrived at airports just moments before departure.
▷ continual/constant /kənˈtɪnjuəl, ˈkɒnstəntǁˈkɑːn-/ [adjective only before noun]
use this about things that annoy you because they happen repeatedly over a long time :
▪ It’s impossible to work with these constant interruptions.
▪ We’ve had continual problems with the computer system ever since it was installed.
5. how often something happens
▷ how often /haʊ ˈɒf ə nǁ-ˈɔːf-/ [adverb]
▪ How often do you see your parents?
▪ What should you feed a puppy and how often?
▪ When Peter said I was heartless it made me wonder how often I’d shown my lack of sympathy.
▪ It’s amazing how often this kind of thing happens.
▷ how many times /ˌhaʊ meni ˈtaɪmz/ [adverb]
▪ How many times has she been married?
▪ I can’t remember how many times I’ve been to New York.
how many times a day/week/year etc
▪ How many times a week do you go swimming?
▪ The doctor wanted to know how many times I went to the toilet in a day.
▷ the number of times /ðə ˌnʌmbər əv ˈtaɪmz/ [noun phrase]
exactly how often something happens :
▪ The computer can tell you the number of times a word occurs in a piece of writing such as a book.
▪ The rate of respiration is the number of times the patient breathes in and out during a given period.
▪ Try to increase the number of times you exercise per week.
▷ frequency /ˈfriːkwənsi/ [uncountable noun]
the number of times that something happens during a particular period of time :
frequency of
▪ The frequency of mining accidents has steadily decreased over the past 20 years.
high frequency
happening very often
▪ The high frequency of cases of diarrhoea is attributable to poor food hygiene.
with increasing frequency
more and more frequently
▪ Crimes of this type are happening with increasing frequency.