Oft

/ɔft/ · adverb

Meaning

(chiefly poetic, dialectal, and in combination) often; frequently; not rarely.

Example Sentences

An oft-told tale

1819, George Gordon Byron, John Galt (biography), The Pophecy of Dante, Canto the Fourth, 1857, The Complete Works of Lord Byron, Volume 1, 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?

1902, James H. Mulligan, In Kentucky, quoted in 2005, Wade Hall (editor), The Kentucky Anthology, page 203, The moonlight falls the softest In Kentucky; The summer days come oftest In Kentucky;

What I can do, can do no hurt to try: Since you ſet up your reſt 'gainſt remedy: He that of greateſt works is finiſher, Oft does them by the weakeſt miniſter; So holy writ in babes hath judgment ſhown, When judges have been babes.

Now, the English-language Wikipedia does make an attempt to document knowledge of the whole world, not just the English-speaking world. At the same time, it admits in its own oft-cited “essays” that it has a pro-Western “systemic bias”; this is borne out by studies cited in the Wikipedia article about itself.

Synonyms for oft

Antonyms for oft

Related Words

Word Forms

• ofter
• oftest

Usage Notes

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