irregularly

UK: /ɪˈrɛgjʊlə^rli/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ir•reg•u•lar /ɪˈrɛgyəlɚ/   adj. 

1. lacking an even shape, formal arrangement, balance, or harmony; uneven:
   irregular patterns.
2. varied in timing or rhythm;
   erratic:
   He worked very irregular hours.
3. not according to or conforming to established rules, principles, manners, morals, standards, etc.:
   The judge ruled that the lawyer's request was highly irregular.
4. Grammar not following the more normal or usual pattern of formation, word changes, etc., in a language, as English verbs that do not form the past tense by adding -ed:
   the irregular verbs keep and see, with their irregular past tense forms kept and saw.

n. [countable]

5. one that is irregular, such as a product or material that does not meet standards of the manufacturer.
6. Military a soldier or fighter who does not belong to an official military force, as a guerrilla.

ir•reg•u•lar•i•ty /ɪˌrɛgyəˈlærɪti/  n. 

[countable] Because there were several irregularities in the arrest the prisoner will probably go free.

[uncountable] a degree of irregularity in every language.

ir•reg•u•lar•ly, adv. See -reg-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ir•reg•u•lar  (i reg′yə lər), adj. 

1. without symmetry, even shape, formal arrangement, etc.:
   an irregular pattern.
2. not characterized by any fixed principle, method, continuity, or rate:
   irregular intervals.
3. not conforming to established rules, customs, etiquette, morality, etc.:
   highly irregular behavior.
4. not according to rule, or to the accepted principle, method, course, order, etc.
5. Grammar not conforming to the prevalent pattern or patterns of formation, inflection, construction, etc., of a language;
   having a rule descriptive of a very small number of items:
   The English verbs "keep'' and "see'' are irregular in their inflections.
6. Military (formerly, of troops) not belonging to an organized group of the established forces.
7. flawed, damaged, or failing to meet a specific standard of manufacture:
   a sale of irregular shirts.
8. [Bot.]
   • Botany not uniform.
   • Botany (of a flower) having the members of some or all of its floral circles or whorls differing from one another in size or shape, or extent of union.
9. Physiology deviating or experiencing deviations from a normally regular or cyclic body function, as bowel habits or menstruation.
10. Stock Exchange, Business (of a stock or commodity market) of mixed market activity;
    showing no clear up or down trend.

n. 

11. a person or thing that is irregular.
12. Communications a product or material that does not meet specifications or standards of the manufacturer, as one having imperfections in its pattern.
13. Military a soldier or combatant not of a regular military force, as a guerrilla or partisan.

• Middle French
• Late Latin irrēgulāris (see ir-², regular); replacing Middle English irreguler
• 1350–1400

ir•reg′u•lar•ly, adv. 
Synonyms

• 1. unsymmetrical, uneven.
• 2. unmethodical, unsystematic; disorderly, capricious, erratic, eccentric, lawless.
• 4. anomalous, unusual.
  Irregular, abnormal, exceptional imply a deviation from the regular, the normal, the ordinary, or the usual.
  Irregular, not according to rule, refers to any deviation, as in form, arrangement, action, and the like; it may imply such deviation as a mere fact, or as regrettable, or even censurable.
  Abnormal means a deviation from the common rule, often implying that this results in an aberrant or regrettably strange form or nature of a thing:
  abnormal lack of emotion; A two-headed calf is abnormal.
  Exceptional means out of the ordinary or unusual; it may refer merely to the rarity of occurrence, or to the superiority of quality:
  an exceptional case; an exceptional mind.
  Because of the stigma of abnormal, exceptional is today frequently substituted for it in contexts where such a euphemism may be thought to be appropriate:
  a school for exceptional children
  (children who are abnormal in behavior, mental capacity, or the like).