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I'm writing a bug report, at first I thought the bug happened all the time but now I realize that occasionally it works correctly.

I was going to say that the bug was sporadic, but actually, that would imply that most of the time it worked and the bug was occasional, which is the opposite of what I mean.

Is there a word which is like sporadic but means happens frequently but not all the time? Or should I just flip the sentance and say that it sporadically works.

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  • Avoid answering questions in comments. Post comments here only to ask for more information or suggest improvements. Other types of comment can be posted in the main chatroom or a chatroom created for the purpose.
    – MetaEd
    Jan 19, 2018 at 19:54
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    Which antonyms of sporadic and occasional have you already discounted, and why?
    – jxh
    Jan 19, 2018 at 22:45
  • @jxh Most antonyms for sporadic are things like 'continuous' so are not what I want.
    – Jeremy French
    Jan 21, 2018 at 19:52
  • @JeremyFrench Which antonyms are you wondering about?
    – jxh
    Jan 21, 2018 at 23:54

2 Answers 2

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I would say frequent is the simplest and most easily understandable expression, depending on the type of report and the style. And also this has the meaning you are looking for, that it happens a lot more than not.

Other synonyms that would work are intermittent or recurring, but they do not stress that the occurrence is more often than not, or even stress that it happens only sometimes:

frequent: Occurring or appearing quite often or at close intervals: frequent errors of judgment.

intermittent: Stopping and starting at intervals.

recurring: Happening or occurring again or repeatedly.

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  • I think intermittent is the best I'll get with a single word.
    – Jeremy French
    Jan 21, 2018 at 19:53
  • I see, okay, you know what you need, so that is totally workable, though don't forget it does not stress that it happens often. Intermittent only says that it randomly happens. If you like the answer, please don't forget to accept it. Thanks.
    – ib11
    Jan 21, 2018 at 21:18
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Flipping the sentence might be easier, but "frequent" or "recurrent" could easily work.

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  • Avoid posting answers that lack explanation, context, and supporting facts. A good expert answer includes this information to demonstrate that it is correct. This is what makes the answer useful – not only to the asker, but to future visitors to the page. Notions, trial balloons, offhand ideas, guesses, anecdotes, and general discussion are not answers. If you are unsure what the asker is looking for, a better way is to request clarification in a comment on the question.
    – MetaEd
    Jan 19, 2018 at 19:57
  • I'm not quite sure how my answer differed from the other provided answer that received two thumbs up, but I'll be more descriptive next time :).
    – Clem
    Jan 20, 2018 at 0:30
  • The gist of it was very similar, but please compare them, and what you see as a difference is exactly what results in the vote difference. You obviously intended to help with your answer. But to be useful, it need to meet certain criteria. That's all.
    – ib11
    Jan 21, 2018 at 6:59

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