Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1200-1300
Origin: oft

often

 adverb
     
of‧ten S1 W1
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.
How often do you see your parents?
quite/very often
I quite often go to Paris on business.
Robin is a difficult child; you've said so yourself often enough (=a lot of times).
it is not often (that)
It's not often that a government minister will admit to being wrong.
2 if something happens often, it happens in many situations or cases:
It's often difficult to translate poetry.
very/quite often
Very often children who behave badly at school have problems at home.
3

all too often

also only too often used to say that something sad, disappointing, or annoying happens too much:
All too often doctors are too busy to explain the treatment to their patients.
This type of accident happens only too often.
4

every so often

sometimes:
An inspector comes round every so often to check the safety equipment.
5

as often as not

also more often than not spoken usually:
More often than not the train is late.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary