Oc*ca"sion*al (?), a. [Cf.F. occasionnel.]
1.
Of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; 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.
2.
Produced by accident; as, the occasional origin of a thing.
[Obs.]
Sir T. Browne.
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.
© Webster 1913.