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often

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adverb

/ˈɔf(ə)n/

Related dictionary definitions

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.
fairly/quite often:
I’ve found that it’s quite often impossible to park near the mall entrance.
often enough (=on enough occasions to achieve a particular result):
I’ve already told you not to argue often enough.
very often:
Very often it turns out that the student hasn’t understood the question.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of often
2
used for talking about how many times something happens in a particular period of time
I’ve been swimming twice as often as I did last year.
how often?:
How often do you eat meat?
fairly/quite often:
I work out fairly often.
very often:
He’s been late for school very often this term.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of often

phrases

all too often
used for saying that something makes you sad or upset because it happens more often than you think it should
All too often, parents leave their children at home alone.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of often
every so often
sometimes, but not frequently
She still calls me every so often.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of often
more often than not
or as often as not
on most occasions, or in most situations
More often than not, the arguments could have been avoided.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of often

This is the American English definition of often. View British English definition of often.

Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to British English.

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