From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishoccasionallyoc‧ca‧sion‧al‧ly /əˈkeɪʒənəli/ ●●● S2 W3 adverb SOMETIMESsometimes, but not regularly and not often Occasionally Alice would look up from her books. We only see each other very occasionally (=rarely).► see thesaurus at sometimesRegisterIn everyday English, people often say once in a while rather than occasionally:We still see her once in a while.
Examples from the Corpus
occasionally• He lives in Australia now, so we only see him very occasionally.• Let stand 2 hours or preferably longer, blending occasionally.• My stomach still bothers me occasionally.• He made friends easily though he occasionally collected the odd hanger-on who I felt sure was only waiting for a Sheikhly hand-out.• Sometimes this would be a church hall, sometimes a Territorial Army drill hall, occasionally even a London Transport recreation room.• He just climbed up into his cabin, still grinning, occasionally giggling, and started his engine.• He still occasionally goes out to bars.• Kay's moods sometimes made life difficult, and occasionally impossible.• Add seitan and spices; cook, stirring occasionally until seitan is browned, about 3 to 5 minutes.• Reduce heat, and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until volume is reduced by half, approximately 20 minutes.• Occasionally we go out to restaurants, but mostly we eat at home.• The prefects also kicked you, as a rule with the inside of the shoe, but occasionally you felt the toe.very occasionally• Gathering information became part of the routine and only very occasionally did I find it impossible to do.• Rho Cassiopeiæ, in the same constellation, fluctuates around magnitude 5, but very occasionally drops to below 6.• Only very occasionally is fungus observed on fish without damaged tissue.• The percentage of the population which attends live performances of music more than very occasionally is very small.• Yet there are, very occasionally, moments that are genuinely romantic.• If the disorder is severe the patient may also require full care and, very occasionally, physical control.• And very occasionally, they have been known to get stuck.• Usually the ships were victims of bad weather, but very occasionally they were captured by the enemy. 