Oft vs Often - What's the difference?
oft | often |
(chiefly, poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely; many times.
* 1623', , Volume 4, 1778,
* 1819', , John Galt (biography), ''The Pophecy of Dante'', Canto the Fourth, '''1857 , ''The Complete Works of Lord Byron , Volume 1,
* 1902 , James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky'', quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), ''The Kentucky Anthology ,
Frequently, many times.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title=
Often is a related term of oft.
Often is a descendant of oft.
As adverbs the difference between oft and often
is that oft is often; frequently; not rarely; many times while often is frequently, many times.oft
English
Adverb
(er)- An oft -told tale
page 45,
- What I can do, can do no hurt to try: / Since you ?et up your re?t 'gain?t remedy: / He that of greate?t works is fini?her, / Oft does them by the weake?t mini?ter; / So holy writ in babes hath judgment ?hown, / When judges have been babes.
page 403,
- And how is it that they, the sons of fame, / Whose inspiration seems to them to shine / From high, they whom the nations oftest name, / Must pass their days in penury or pain, / Or step to grandeur through the paths of shame, / And wear a deeper brand and gaudier chain?
page 203,
- The moonlight falls the softest / In Kentucky; / The summer days come oftest / In Kentucky;
Usage notes
* In widespread contemporary use in combination.Anagrams
* ----often
English
Adverb
(en-adv)Obama goes troll-hunting, passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often , their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}