From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishintermittentin‧ter‧mit‧tent /ˌɪntəˈmɪtənt◂ $ -tər-/ adjective SOMETIMESstopping and starting often and for short periods SYN sporadic The weather forecast is for sun, with intermittent showers. —intermittently adverb
Examples from the Corpus
intermittent• She is the sort of person who works with intense but intermittent effort.• After two days of intermittent fighting, order was finally restored.• The afternoon will be warm but unsettled, with intermittent light rain.• There were clouds and intermittent rain during the festival.• There will be intermittent thunderstorms throughout the day.Origin intermittent (1500-1600) Latin present participle of intermittere, from mittere “to send” 