biweekly

Pluralbiweeklies

1. 1
   every-other-weekadjective

   Happening once every two weeks, with two weeks between one occurrence and the next.

   Employees receive a biweekly paycheck, which works out to twenty-six payments a year.

   The committee switched from weekly to biweekly meetings, so members now gather every other Wednesday.

   UsageIt can also mean twice a week, so where it matters say fortnightly or every other Friday.

   Similarfortnightly

   Note

   Here the word is built as bi- plus week plus -ly: a span of two weeks comes first, then the -ly that turns that span into a schedule. The same spelling also carries the twice-a-week meaning, so the word on its own cannot tell a reader which rhythm is meant. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Biweekly is formed from bi- + week + -ly. en.wiktionary.org
   • The suffix -ly forms an adjective expressing recurrence at the specified interval. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   adverb

   Once every two weeks, with each time falling two weeks after the one before.

   Staff at the firm are paid biweekly, on alternating Fridays.

   Rangers check the traps biweekly, returning to each one fourteen days after the last visit.

   UsageAlso used for twice a week, so every two weeks is clearer.

   Similarfortnightly

3. 3
   twice a weekadjective

   Happening twice in each week.

   The clinic offers biweekly evening hours, staying open late every Tuesday and Thursday.

   With biweekly deliveries arriving each Monday and Thursday, the bakery never runs short of flour.

   UsageEasily read as every two weeks, so name the days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, or say twice a week.

   Similarsemiweekly

   Note

   The prefix attaches to weekly as a whole in this sense: weekly, twice over. Here bi- doubles how often something happens instead of lengthening the gap between times. That leaves it sharing a spelling with the every-two-weeks sense, a clash worth heading off. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The twice-a-week sense can be analyzed as bi- attached to weekly. en.wiktionary.org
   • In this sense, bi- doubles the frequency rather than the interval. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   nouncountable

   A publication or other release that comes out once every two weeks, such as a newspaper on that schedule.

   The neighborhood newspaper started as a weekly but became a biweekly when ad sales fell.

   The story ran in two regional biweeklies, so some readers waited nearly two weeks to see it.

   Similarfortnightly

   Note

   Publishing turns the adjective into a name for the publication itself, the way a weekly names a paper that comes out every week: the local paper is a biweekly. The noun takes its schedule from the every-two-weeks sense, and its plural is biweeklies, with the y becoming ies.

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