{
  "id": "often.temporal",
  "term": "often",
  "sense": "temporal",
  "pos": "adjective",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 2,
  "arena": "language",
  "domain": "frequency",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "many instances where a pattern recurs over time",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "regular.frequency",
      "time.dimension",
      "pattern.regularity",
      "repeats.action"
    ],
    "interaction": "a pattern regularity persists through time, repeating via regular frequency to produce multiple occurrences.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "temporal recurrence",
      "repeated pattern instances",
      "frequency over time"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station requires reboosts every few weeks to counteract atmospheric drag and maintain orbit.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Monarch butterflies migrate every autumn from North America to central Mexico, covering up to 3,000 miles.",
      "domain": "biology"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Linux kernel receives new patch releases every few months, often fixing security flaws and driver issues.",
      "domain": "computing"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "regular.frequency",
      "type": "is-a",
      "note": "often is a kind of regular frequency"
    },
    {
      "id": "never.temporal",
      "type": "contrasts-with",
      "note": "often is opposite of never"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "holiday.leisure"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "often"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "definition",
      "note": "definition tightened to align with components and omitted concepts; missing constitutive concepts added"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-often.temporal"
}