occasionele

Ocasionele is the Dutch adjective occasioneel in its inflected form occasionele, meaning occurring from time to time and not regularly. It describes things that are intermittent, sporadic, or limited to occasional instances rather than being continuous or frequent. In Dutch, the term is used for events, actions, or conditions that happen only occasionally.

Etymology and related terms: Occasioneel comes from the Latin word occasionalis, via French and other Romance influences, and is cognate with the English word occasional. In Dutch, the spelling has remained close to its Latin-root lineage, distinguishing it from synonyms such as sporadisch, incidenteel, or af en toe. The form occasionele is the attributive inflected form used before a noun, while the adverbial sense can be conveyed by phrases like af en toe or soms.

Usage and grammar: Occasioneel is used in formal and informal contexts to label irregular or non-regular occurrences. The word is commonly paired with nouns to specify frequency or timing, for example describing a gebeurtenis, bezoek, of uitval as not happening on a fixed schedule. In sentences, the form occasionele typically appears before a noun in attributive position, and it can occur with plural nouns or feminine singular nouns depending on standard Dutch adjective inflection rules. The word is not a measure of rarity in absolute terms; it indicates occurrence that is irregular and not habitual.

See also: Occasional, similar Dutch terms such as sporadisch (sporadic) and incidenteel (incidental). Related linguistic concepts include frequency, regularity, and timing of events, as well as phrases like af en toe and zo nu en dan to express occasionality in Dutch.