often

often
adverb
1 if something happens often, or you do something often, it happens regularly or many times: Rosi often works till 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. | If you wash your hair too often, it tends to make it greasy. | how often?: How often do you go to the movies? | very/quite often: Tom quite often goes to his Mum's on Saturday for tea. | not often: It's not often that you meet people who are so willing to help.
2 (sentence adverb) if something happens often, it happens in many situations or cases: It's often difficult to translate poetry. | very/quite often: Very often you find that children with behavioral problems come from broken homes.
3 all too often also only too often used to say that something sad, disappointing, or annoying happens too much: All too often victims of bullying are too frightened to ask for help. | These loopholes in the tax laws are exploited only too often.
4 every so often sometimes: An inspector would come round every so often to check the premises.
5 as often as not also more often than not spoken usually: More often than not he'll come and apologize within minutes of shouting at us.

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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Synonyms:
, , , , (poetical)


Look at other dictionaries:

  • often — often, frequently, oft, oftentimes may be used with little or no distinction to mean again and again in more or less close succession. But often stresses the number of times a thing occurs, without regard to the interval of recurrence; frequently …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Often — Of ten, a. Frequent; common; repeated. [R.] Thine often infirmities. 1 Tim. v. 23. [1913 Webster] And weary thee with often welcomes. Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Often — Of ten ([o^]f n; 115), adv. [Compar. {Oftener} ([o^]f n*[ e]r); superl. {Oftenest}.] [Formerly also ofte, fr. oft. See {Oft}., adv.] Frequently; many times; not seldom. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • often — index chronic Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • often — (adv.) c.1300, extended form of OFT (Cf. oft), originally before vowels and h , probably by influence of M.E. selden seldom. In common use from 16c., replacing oft …   Etymology dictionary

  • often — of|ten W1S1 [ˈɔfən, ˈɔftən US ˈo:f ] adv [Date: 1200 1300; Origin: oft] 1.) if something happens often, it happens regularly or many times = ↑frequently ▪ She often works at the weekend. ▪ If you wash your hair too often, it can get too dry. ▪… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • often — of|ten [ ɔfn ] adverb *** 1. ) on many occasions or in many situations: Often, students with family problems have difficulties at school. Boredom often leads to bad behavior. The home is often the most likely place in which someone is injured.… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • often — [[t]ɒ̱f(ə)n, AM ɔ͟ːf [/t]] ♦ (Often is usually used before the verb, but it may be used after the verb when it has a word like less or more before it, or when the clause is negative.) 1) ADV GRADED: ADV before v, ADV with cl/group If something… …   English dictionary

  • often */*/*/ — UK [ˈɒf(ə)n] / US [ˈɔf(ə)n] adverb 1) on many occasions, or in many situations Often, students with family problems have difficulties at school. Boredom often leads to poor behaviour. The home is often the most likely place to have an accident.… …   English dictionary

  • often*/*/*/ — [ˈɒf(ə)n] adv 1) on many occasions or in many situations Boredom often leads to poor behaviour.[/ex] Very often the student can t understand the question.[/ex] It s quite often impossible to park in town.[/ex] 2) used for talking about how many… …   Dictionary for writing and speaking English

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