Idiom
once in a blue moon
adverbial phrase
Meaning
Very rarely; very infrequently.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“We only eat out once in a blue moon.”
“My brother lives abroad, so I see him once in a blue moon.”
“Now that they both have demanding jobs and young children, the old friends manage to meet only once in a blue moon.”
Examples
simple
“We only eat out once in a blue moon.”
contextual
“My brother lives abroad, so I see him once in a blue moon.”
complex
“Now that they both have demanding jobs and young children, the old friends manage to meet only once in a blue moon.”
Origin
'Blue moon' meant something absurd or never in the 16th century ('if they say the moon is blue, we must believe it is true', 1528); later attached to the rare second full moon in a calendar month.
Key words
Related idioms
- Level
- B1 · Intermediate
- Updated