Word of the Day: Sporadic

Sporadic
- adj.

Pronunciation:
[spuh-RAD-ik]

Definition:
1. (of similar things or occurrences) appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional: sporadic renewals of enthusiasm.
2. appearing in scattered or isolated instances, as a disease.
3. isolated, as a single instance of something; being or occurring apart from others.

Etymology:
1650s (implied in sporadical), from M.L. sporadicus "scattered," from Gk. sporadikos "scattered," from sporas (gen. sporados) "scattered," from spora "a sowing" (see spore). Originally a medical term, "occurring in scattered instances;" the meaning "happening at intervals" is first recorded 1847. Related: Sporadically.

Quote with the word:
"At night my father often heard sporadic gunfire mixed in with the sound of dogs howling. If the war came closer, soon there would be only minor difference between shooting a dog and shooting a man."
- Dinaw Mengestu: "How to Read the Air".

I just watched Clueless (don't judge, I watched five minutes of it and remembered why I hated it), and Alicia Silverstone teachers someone this word, and it cracked me up that I saw it here. Funny timing.

I like this word and say it in daily (well not every day) type conversation.