for the umpteenth time

for the umpteenth time

An uncountable or indefinitely large number of times. The word umpteen is an American coinage that was believed, by John Ciardi and several other writers, to have come from nineteenth-century Morse code. In an early version of the code, M, pronounced “umpty,” meant “many,” probably based on M, the Roman numeral for one thousand. To this was added “teen,” for “ten,” presumably now meaning tens of thousands or, simply, a very large number. The expression “for the umpteenth time,” usually pronounced with some exasperation, means in effect that one has said or done something time and again and is thoroughly tired of the repetition.
See also: time, umpteenth
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • umpteen
  • beyond number
  • from the word go
  • have word (from someone or something)
  • get word (from someone or something)
  • receive word
  • receive word (from someone or something)
  • false friend
  • in a word
  • calaboose
References in periodicals archive
The call, he said, coming for the umpteenth time, had become necessary in view of the increasing activities of the scammers.
Wayne Fernandez was for the umpteenth time a lone ranger in the quad class, winning in a time of 10.57.010 minutes and so was Tsorav Soni in 12.45.402.
It is why the President railed, for the umpteenth time, at Team Tanga Tanga for prematurely campaigning for Dr Ruto to succeed him in 2022 a fortnight ago.
She is currently gracing the cover of Vogue for the umpteenth time and still looks as good as ever.
'For the umpteenth time, let it be known to all and sundry that no judicial officer is appointed on account of religious or tribal affiliation, hence the discharge of their Judicial obligations cannot be dictated by such extraneous considerations.
Opening the back door for the umpteenth time to allow our two cats to saunter into the garden - I swear they view me as a concierge at a cat hotel - I told them: "Your dad will let you in later."
However, as the ruling party has already been accused of political victimisation by its opponents, differential treatment is hard to ignore when members of the PML-N have been arrested from courts as they came to attend their respective legal trials whereas PPP's Asif Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur have received extension to their pre-arrest bail for the umpteenth time. All those alleged for corruption should be given the same treatment under the law.
'For the umpteenth time, I'm cautioning the public to be wary of scams using my name.
The "tipping point" in global average temperatures has been put back (for the umpteenth time) to enable them to collect the 2.4 trillion dollars that they say they require to be poured into their coffers annually, to prevent catastrophe.
So, when Keanu asks her to go for a drink, will she take him up on the offer or work on saving her marriage for the umpteenth time instead?
Whitney tries to play Cupid for Donna and Robbie, and the market is threatened with closure for the umpteenth time.
My oldest was the only boy in his class, for the umpteenth time, not to be invited to a fellow classmate's birthday party and to say he was devastated would be an understatement.
"The decision gives the necessary amount of time to all those directly involved to discuss and solve the problem, which unfortunately unfolds for the umpteenth time."
Jay-Z is not a fan of subtlety, as he proved for the umpteenth time last Monday at a star-studded press conference announcing the relaunch of Tidal, a music streaming service he purchased in January for $56 million.
Dogs bark at strange noises floorboards start to creak, the neighbours are shouting again for the umpteenth time this week.