unseldom

English

Etymology

un- + seldom

Adverb

unseldom (comparative more unseldom, superlative most unseldom)

  1. (archaic) Not seldom; frequently.
    • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Volume II, Chapter 5,
      When Mr. Collins said any thing of which his wife might reasonably be ashamed, which certainly was not unseldom, she involuntarily turned her eye on Charlotte.
    • 1878, William Morris, “The Decorative Arts: Their Relation to Modern Life and Progress.” An address delivered before the Trades’ Guild of Learning. London: Ellis & White, p. 21,
      For as was the land, such was the art of it while folk yet troubled themselves about such things; it strove little to impress people either by pomp or ingenuity: not unseldom it fell into commonplace, rarely it rose into majesty; yet was it never oppressive, never a slave’s nightmare or an insolent boast: and at its best it had an inventiveness, an individuality, that grander styles have never overpassed []
    • 1921, Walter Harris, Morocco That Was, Edinburgh: W. Blackwood & Sons, p. 17,
      Mulai Abdul Aziz was, at the time of his succession (1894), about twelve or thirteen years of age. He was a younger son of the late Sultan, for Islamic thrones do not necessarily descend by primogeniture. It is not unseldom a brother who succeeds, and at times even more distant relations.

Usage notes

Almost exclusively used in the pleonastic phrase not unseldom, meaning not infrequently.

Anagrams

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