Fortnightly or Biweekly – What’s the difference?

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Fortnightly or Biweekly - What's the difference?
Fortnightly is a synonym of biweekly. As nouns the difference between fortnightly and biweekly is that fortnightly is a publication issued fortnightly (once every two weeks); a bi-weekly (one sense) while biweekly is something that is published or released once every two weeks. As adjectives the difference between fortnightly and biweekly is that fortnightly is occurring once in a fortnight; once every two weeks while biweekly is occurring once every two weeks. As adverbs the difference between fortnightly and biweekly is that fortnightly is once in a fortnight; once every two weeks while biweekly is every two weeks.

fortnightly

English

Noun

(fortnightlies)

  • a publication issued fortnightly (once every two weeks); a bi-weekly (one sense)

    • Adjective

    (–)

  • occurring once in a fortnight; once every two weeks

    • Adverb

    (–)

  • once in a fortnight; once every two weeks
  • * 1970 , , “Between the Lines”, as reprinted in, 2010, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger , 2011 paperback edition, ISBN 9781616200497, page 184 [http://books.google.com/books?id=_h_BERi4Js8C&pg=PA184&dq=fortnightly]:
    • That’s where my column appears, in the Greenville Herald , fortnightly .

    biweekly

    English

    Adjective

    (–)

  • Occurring once every two weeks.
  • (chiefly, British) Occurring twice a week (but see the Usage notes ).

    • Usage notes

    Like bimonthly and biennially, but unlike biannually, in the adjective and adverb senses, the prefix bi- applies to the week rather than to the events that occur, therefore giving the sense of “every two weeks”. Since the term is also used in the UK to mean “twice a week”, it is ambiguous there. In British English, for the sake of clarity, it is advisable to use one of the synonyms instead.

    Synonyms

    * (occurring once every two weeks) fortnightly
    * (occurring twice a week) twice-weekly, semiweekly

    Adverb

    (–)

  • Every two weeks.
  • (chiefly, British) Twice a week (but see the Usage notes ).

    • Synonyms

    * (every two weeks) fortnightly
    * (twice a week) twice weekly, semi-weekly

    See also

    * semiweekly
    * fortnightly (UK )

    Noun

    (biweeklies)

  • Something that is published or released once every two weeks.
    • The local paper is a biweekly .

    Usage notes

    Unlike with bimonthly and biannually, in the adjective and adverb senses, the prefix bi- applies to the week rather than to the events that occur, therefore giving the sense of “every two weeks”. Since the term is also used in the UK to mean “twice a week”, it is ambiguous there. For the sake of clarity, it is advisable to use one of the synonyms instead.
    English frequency adverbs
    English contranyms

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