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Fortnight vs Biweekly - What's the difference?

fortnight | biweekly |

As nouns the difference between fortnight and biweekly

is that fortnight is a period of fourteen nights; two weeks while biweekly is something that is published or released once every two weeks.

As adverbs the difference between fortnight and biweekly

is that fortnight is after a fortnight has passed while biweekly is every two weeks.

As an adjective biweekly is

occurring once every two weeks.

fortnight

English

(wikipedia fortnight)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (chiefly, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A period of fourteen nights; two weeks.

    • Adverb

    (-)
  • After a fortnight has passed.
    • 1852' Charles Dickens, ''Bleak House'': ''We will proceed with the hearing on Wednesday '''fortnight .

    Related terms

    * fortnightly * microfortnight * halfmonth

    See also

    * sennight

    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