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Occasion vs Sometimes - What's the difference?

occasion | sometimes |

In obsolete terms the difference between occasion and sometimes

is that occasion is an occurrence or incident while sometimes is former; sometime.

As a noun occasion

is a favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.

As a verb occasion

is to give occasion to; to cause; to produce; to induce; as, to occasion anxiety.

As an adverb sometimes is

on certain occasions, or in certain circumstances, but not always.

As an adjective sometimes is

former; sometime.

occasion

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A favorable opportunity; a convenient or timely chance.
  • * Bible, Rom. vii. 11
    • Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me.
  • * Waller
    • I'll take the occasion which he gives to bring / Him to his death.
  • The time when something happens.
  • *, chapter=13
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them.}}
  • An occurrence or state of affairs which causes some event or reaction; a motive or reason.
  • Something which causes something else; a cause.
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 130:
    • it were too vile to say, and scarce to be beleeved, what we endured: but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence, industrie and government [...].
  • (obsolete) An occurrence or incident.
  • A particular happening; an instance or time when something occurred.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2013, date=April 9, author=Andrei Lankov, title=Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff., work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=In the last two decades, North Korea has on various occasions conducted highly provocative missile and nuclear tests and promised to turn Seoul into a sea of fire. }}
  • Need; requirement, necessity.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • after we have served ourselves and our own occasions
  • * Burke
    • when my occasions took me into France
  • A special event or function.
  • A reason or excuse; a motive; a persuasion.
  • * Spenser
    • Whose manner was, all passengers to stay, / And entertain with her occasions sly.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give occasion to; to cause; to produce; to induce; as, to occasion anxiety.
    • it is seen that the mental changes are occasioned by a change of polarity

    Related terms

    * occasional

    Statistics

    * ----

    sometimes

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • On certain occasions, or in certain circumstances, but not always.
  • * (Jeremy Taylor)
    • It is good that we sometimes be contradicted.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}
  • (obsolete) On a certain occasion in the past; once.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • That fair and warlike form / In which the majesty of buried Denmark / Did sometimes march.
  • * :
    • For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
  • *, II.3.7:
    • they detract, scoffe, and raile (saith one), and bark at me on every side; but I, like that Albanian dog sometimes given to Alexander for a present, vindico me ab illis solo contemptu ; I lie still, and sleep, vindicate myself by contempt alone.

    Synonyms

    * at one time or another * at times * every so often * from time to time * occasionally * once in a while

    See also

    * sometime

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) former; sometime
    • Thy sometimes brother's wife. — Shakespeare.

    Statistics

    * English frequency adverbs 1000 English basic words