"often" vs. "oftentimes"

“often” vs. “oftentimes”

Is “oftentimes” a pleonasm? My current understanding is that “often” denotes frequent occurrence. If “often” communicates frequent occurrence, then what need is there to append “times,” a temporal aspect already communicated by the word “often?”

Solution 1:

It’s not really a pleonasm. It’s more of a throwback to times gone by. Both oftentime and oftentimes are nothing but extended forms of the shorter oft-time or oft-times, but which are still pretty old-timey in feel. The OED says that all four of these are now variously considered obsolete, rare, archaic, literary, or poetic. You are more apt to find them in literature than in pedestrian banter.

• oftentime: rare
• oftentimes: archaic or literary
• oft-time: obsolete or archaic
• oft-times: archaic or poetic

Take your pick. No matter which you choose, they all boil down to the same shared meaning:

Many times; on many occasions, or in many cases; frequently, often.

Solution 2:

"oftentimes" is a synonym for "often", but also carries a connotation of separate occasions that "often" does not. For example,

I oftentimes check my watch often while waiting at the doctors office.

works better than

I often check my watch often while waiting at the doctors office.