once or more

USAGE SUMMARY

'once or more' is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you are referring to something that has happened multiple times but you don't know the exact number. For example: "I have seen her face once or more times."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Academia

Wiki

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

60 human-written examples

Three patients in the OPT group and all of the control group needed hospitalization once or more (p<0.001).

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

They feed only on the blood of people, and feed once or more each day.

Harvard University

Each of the Psalms was recited once a week, with many repeated once or more a day.

Harvard University

A consumer survey of 400 Thai respondents showed a high proportion of consumers (25%) ate fruit leather once or more often/week.

Food Quality and Preference

The responses were coded as 0 = Did not skip and 1 = Skipped once or more.

Health & Justice

Cases with multiple rows indicate that warnings were updated once or more.

Earth, Planets and Space

Finally, a FB may occur once or more time in a single iteration depending on its parameters.

EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing

A query may not have any occurrence or may appear once or more in the speech data.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

We next look at the reported incidence of drinking and, specifically, if a person reports getting drunk often, defined as once or more per week.

IZA Journal of Development and Migration

For both males and females, more than half of the athletes have napping habits of once or more than once per week.

Sports Medicine - Open

The resulting dataset contains more than 800 million unique items, each appearing once or more, and is larger than 1.2 TB.

Journal of Big Data

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "once or more" when you want to indicate that something happened at least one time, possibly multiple times, without specifying the exact number of occurrences. This avoids committing to a specific frequency.

Common error

While "once or more" is perfectly acceptable, it can sound slightly informal in highly formal or academic writing. Consider using more precise language like "at least once" or "on multiple occasions" for a more polished tone.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "once or more" functions as an adverbial phrase modifying a verb, indicating the frequency or repetition of an action. As Ludwig AI confirms, it is correct and usable. Examples from Ludwig show it specifying that something occurs at least once, potentially multiple times.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

70%

News & Media

15%

Academia

10%

Less common in

Wiki

5%

Formal & Business

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the phrase "once or more" serves as a versatile adverbial phrase used to indicate a minimum frequency of occurrence. As Ludwig AI confirms, its grammatical status is correct, with examples demonstrating its frequent use across varied sources such as Science, News & Media, Academia and Wiki. While acceptable in most contexts, it may benefit from more formal alternatives like "at least once" in academic or professional writing. Best practice involves using "once or more" when the precise number of occurrences is irrelevant or variable, focusing instead on the fact that an event occurred at least once. Common writing errors can be prevented by favoring a more precise term in contexts that demand precision. All the authoritative sources confirm the general usage and good standing of the term.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

at least once

Emphasizes the minimum frequency of occurrence.

one or more times

More formal and explicitly states the possibility of multiple occurrences.

on at least one occasion

Highlights the occurrence on a minimum of one instance.

a minimum of once

Stresses the lower bound of the number of times something happens.

one time or more

A slightly less common but valid alternative.

at least a single time

Focuses on the minimum of a single instance.

on one or more occasions

Similar to "one or more times" but uses "occasions" instead of "times".

at a minimum of one instance

More formal, highlighting a minimum single occurrence.

one or several times

Specifies the possibility of a few occurrences.

at least on one instance

Underlines the occurrence in a single instance as the minimum.

FAQs

How can I use "once or more" in a sentence?

You can use "once or more" to indicate a minimum frequency. For example, "Participants attended the workshop "once or more" during the study period."

What's a more formal alternative to "once or more"?

In formal contexts, consider using alternatives like "at least once" or "on one or more occasions" instead of "once or more".

Is it correct to say "one or more times" instead of "once or more"?

Yes, "one or more times" is a grammatically correct and commonly used alternative to "once or more", often used for emphasis.

When should I use "once or more" instead of specifying the exact number of times?

Use "once or more" when the precise number of occurrences is unknown, irrelevant, or variable. This phrase is suitable when only the minimum occurrence matters.