01 a. Occuring at times, but not constant, regular, or systematic; made or happening as opportunity requires or admits; casual; incidental; as, o…
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1.
Occuring at times, but not constant, regular, or systematic; made or happening as opportunity requires or admits; casual; incidental; as, occasional remarks, or efforts.“The . . . occasional writing of the present times.” — Bagehot.
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2.
Produced by accident; as, the occasional origin of a thing.[Obs.]
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3.
Of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; intended for a specific occasion; for use only when needed, and not regularly.
Phrases & compounds
Occasional cause —
some circumstance preceding an effect which, without being the real cause, becomes the occasion of the action of the efficient cause; thus, the act of touching gunpowder with fire is the occasional, but not the efficient, cause of an explosion.