Infrequent means not happening often or rarely occurring. When something is infrequent, it shows up once in a while rather than regularly. A student might make infrequent visits to the principal's office (which is usually good news!), or a family might take infrequent trips to the beach because they live far from the coast.

The word helps describe the pattern or rhythm of events. Rain might be infrequent in a desert, falling only a few times a year. A friend who is an infrequent visitor to your house comes by occasionally, but not every week. Scientists might observe an infrequent phenomenon, something that happens so rarely they have to watch for years to see it.

The opposite of infrequent is frequent, which means happening often or regularly. While frequent practice makes you better at a skill, infrequent practice means you might get rusty between sessions.