From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsporadicspo‧rad‧ic /spəˈrædɪk/ adjective REGULAR#happening fairly often, but not regularly SYN intermittent There has been sporadic violence downtown. —sporadically /-kli/ adverb The fighting continued sporadically for several days.
Examples from the Corpus
sporadic• There was now a lull in the battle, though sporadic cannon and musket fire were still heard.• Secondly, familial cases have sometimes shown a lower age at onset than sporadic cases, which is consistent with aetiological heterogeneity.• Since then he has been on sporadic drinking binges.• There was rioting and sporadic fighting in the city as rival gangs clashed.• Sporadic gunfire continued through the night.• I kept hearing aircraft passing low overhead and sporadic gunfire from automatic weapons.• The random background meteors that do not belong to discrete meteor showers are called sporadic meteors.• Different patterns of clinical involvement with genetic transmission or sporadic occurrence are recognised.• sporadic outbreaks of disease• The next day the government declared a curfew from 9 p.m to 4 a.m., as sporadic rioting and shooting continued.• Our advertising campaigns have been too sporadic to have had a lot of success.• Major cities hit by sporadic uprisings and riots.Origin sporadic (1600-1700) Medieval Latin sporadicus, from Greek, from sporaden “scattered in different places” 