しきりに: when something keeps happening

しきりに is an adverb for something that happens repeatedly, continues insistently, or is felt and expressed with striking intensity. It often translates as “repeatedly,” “constantly,” “eagerly,” or “strongly,” but the practical idea is more specific: an action, event, feeling, or position keeps asserting itself enough to stand out in the scene.

The most common shape is しきりに + action. Someone keeps checking a clock, asking a question, making a phone call, apologizing, or recommending a course of action. It also works when the subject is not a person: 電話(でんわ)がしきりに鳴(な)る reports that a phone keeps ringing, and 雨(あめ)がしきりに降(ふ)る describes persistent rain. With wanting, opposing, regretting, or pain, repetition and intensity can overlap. A person who しきりに行(い)きたがる keeps showing a strong wish to go; someone who しきりに反対(はんたい)する voices opposition repeatedly or forcefully.

This makes しきりに especially useful when the speaker has noticed a pattern. It does not grammatically require an outside observer, and you can use it about yourself. Still, it often sounds like a report of visible or audible persistence: repeated glances, repeated questions, a phone that will not settle down, or an opinion that returns throughout a conversation. The verb and context tell you whether the best English rendering is “again and again,” “kept doing,” “strongly,” or “intently.”

Three nearby expressions set useful boundaries. よく is a simple choice for general frequency or habit, as in 旅行前(りょこうまえ)によく天気予報(てんきよほう)を確認(かくにん)する, “often check the forecast before a trip.” 何度(なんど)も directly foregrounds multiple occasions and can be used whether those occasions are tightly grouped or spread out. しょっちゅう means “all the time” or “very frequently” and is strongly at home in casual speech about recurring habits. しきりに is a better fit when the repetition or intensity is conspicuous inside the scene you are describing. These are tendencies, not mechanical substitution rules.

The word is standard Japanese rather than slang. It appears naturally in personal narratives, news-like description, and formal public prose. In relaxed conversation, よく or しょっちゅう may be simpler for an ordinary habit. Choose しきりに when you want the listener to picture the persistence itself. It is normally written in kana; 頻(しき)りに is possible but is not the usual learner-facing spelling.

A delayed community bus trip

Risa is helping with a neighborhood bus trip to a riverside park. The group gathers at the community center early on Saturday, but overnight wind has left branches on several roads. No one knows yet whether the bus can follow its planned route. As the scheduled departure approaches, Risa keeps reopening the forecast on her phone.

しきりに確認(かくにん)する does more than state Risa's normal habit. It presents several checks close enough together to become a noticeable part of this morning. If the sentence were 理沙(りさ)さんは旅行前(りょこうまえ)によく天気予報(てんきよほう)を確認(かくにん)します, it would describe what she often does before trips in general. Here the delayed departure creates one bounded scene, and the repeated checking shows her concern without directly labeling her anxious.

Risa is not the only person waiting for news. Families call the reception desk to ask whether the trip is still happening, while the bus company tries to inspect the route.

The phone has no intention, so this example makes the repetition meaning especially clear. Calls arrive again and again during the wait. English naturally uses “kept ringing.” しきりに can describe this kind of recurring sound or weather event without implying that it literally never stopped for a second.

Several children have already packed lunches and insect nets. Each new announcement makes them hope that departure is finally near.

しきりに尋(たず)ねる lets the narrator gather multiple questions into one observed pattern. 何度(なんど)も尋(たず)ねる would also be natural and would state plainly that they asked many times. しきりに adds the sense that the questioning persisted and stood out during the wait. Depending on the situation, that persistence may feel eager, worried, impatient, or simply curious; the adverb alone does not decide the emotion.

At last the driver calls. The original road is open, but one narrow section is still covered with small branches. He believes a longer road is safer and returns to that recommendation several times while the organizers discuss the schedule.

Here repetition and strength meet. The driver does not mention the alternate route once and move on; he presses the recommendation because he considers it important. “Repeatedly urged” fits better than the flat “often recommended.” With verbs such as 勧(すす)める, 頼(たの)む, 反対(はんたい)する, or 謝(あやま)る, しきりに can make a person's sustained attitude audible through repeated words or actions.

The organizers accept the safer route. Departure will be twenty minutes late, so the trip leader walks through the waiting room, explains the change, and apologizes to each cluster of passengers.

The sentence reports a series of apologies, but it can also suggest earnestness because the apology keeps being expressed. Context still matters. しきりに does not prove that the speaker is sincere, annoying, or excessive; it tells us that the behavior is repeated or strongly sustained. After the explanation, the bus arrives, the group boards, and the morning finally moves forward.

The bus trip gives a reliable decision test. First ask whether you are reporting a general habit or a particular stretch of activity. For a general habit, よく or the more conversational しょっちゅう may be enough. For several explicit occasions, 何度(なんど)も is direct. When the listener should notice that checking, asking, ringing, urging, apologizing, wanting, or hurting keeps returning or remains strikingly strong, しきりに earns its place.