Sergey
Is "sporadic" a common word? Hallo! Lately I came across the adjective "sporadic". I remember that some years ago I watched a film and this word was used there but a heroine didn't know its meaning. I want to question native speakers: 1) Is the word "sporadic" widely spread? Or it's the specific one which is strange to even lots of English speacking adults? 2) Sporadic or sporadical - what is more common? Thank you in advance.
Apr 19, 2014 9:20 AM
Answers · 7
3
I use sporadic most often. It is a known word and it's quite good for describing something that doesn't happen often or reliably. Sporadical isn't a word I've used often but is correct too.
April 19, 2014
2
Sporadic is common Ivan.
April 19, 2014
1
Sporadic is not common in everyday life. But it is common in news reports about war ("sporadic fighting"). Sporadical is very uncommon - it's never used.
April 19, 2014
1
"Sporadic" is not a common word, but it is a perfectly good word meaning "occasional", "isolated", "widely separated", or "irregularly spaced". I see "sporadical" is in the dictionary, but I have never come across it myself.
April 19, 2014
To Peachey. Yes! If I receive the answer that this is very specific word, about 98% of grown-up well-educated native speakers have hardly heard it even once in a lifetime I wouldn’t pay my attention to this word. I don’t want to be incomprehensible or ridicules. ))) Thank you and everybody who responded for your answers.
April 22, 2014
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