The Collaborative International Dictionary
Occasional \Oc*ca"sion*al\ ([o^]k*k[=a]"zh[u^]n*al), a. [Cf. F. occasionnel.]
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Occuring at times, but not constant, regular, or systematic; made or happening as opportunity requires or admits; casual; incidental; as, occasional remarks, or efforts.
The . . . occasional writing of the present times.
--Bagehot. Produced by accident; as, the occasional origin of a thing. [Obs.]
--Sir T. Browne.-
Of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; intended for a specific occasion; for use only when needed, and not regularly.
Occasional cause (Metaph.), some circumstance preceding an effect which, without being the real cause, becomes the occasion of the action of the efficient cause; thus, the act of touching gunpowder with fire is the occasional, but not the efficient, cause of an explosion.
Usage examples of "occasional cause".
What with wind and rain and mist, plus unseasonal chill in the mountains, Bass Foster had occasional cause to regret forcing his unit to travel so light, but they did make good speed and on the only night of really hard, driving rain were able to camp in the partial shelter of the crumbling, weed-grown ruin that had once been a place of cheer called Heron Hall.
She did not age as her husband had aged, and her eyes remained as blue, her hair as golden-white, andas the free citizens of the Stormhold would have occasional cause to discoverher temper as quick to flare as on the day that Tristran first encountered her in the glade beside the pool.