on-and-off

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Intermittent or sporadic, with periods of activity and inactivity

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Xung quanh hoặc không thường xuyên, với thời gian hoạt động và không hoạt động

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: alternating between on and off states
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

Their relationship has been on-and-off for years

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “on-and-off” mean?

Intermittent or sporadic, with periods of activity and inactivity Literally: alternating between on and off states

Is “on-and-off” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.