What do bimonthly and biweekly mean?: Usage Guide
Many people are puzzled about bimonthly and biweekly, which are often ambiguous because they are formed from two different senses of bi-: "occurring every two" and "occurring two times." This ambiguity has been in existence for nearly a century and a half and cannot be eliminated by the dictionary. The chief difficulty is that many users of these words assume that others know exactly what they mean, and they do not bother to make their context clear. So if you need bimonthly or biweekly, you should leave some clues in your context to the sense of bi- you mean. And if you need the meaning "twice a," you can substitute semi- for bi-. Biannual and biennial are usually differentiated.
Examples of bimonthly in a Sentence
Jennifer Leahy & Roma Khanna, Houston Chronicle, 16 Nov. 2008
Computer Book Review, a bimonthly magazine, carries reviews of 45-50 books in computer-related fields in each issue. … In the November/December issue, the Review publishes an annual buying guide containing summaries of the year's reviews.
—Publishers Weekly, 3 June 1983
The group holds bimonthly meetings in January, March, May, and so on.
The group holds bimonthly meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month.
Adverb
Opponents argued that the change is unnecessary and that it could result both in less productivity for the council and confusion for residents accustomed to watching council meetings on television. Supporters countered that meeting bimonthly will allow for lengthy subcommittee discussions on the off weeks. Subcommittee meetings also are televised live.
—Michael Lafleur, Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, 14 May 2008
This column will now appear bimonthly beginning with the March 15 issue. … we think we can cover quite handily the year's work from Christian publishers in six columns, leaving some space in the unscheduled months for the occasional feature column, such as a roundup of best books.
—Booklist, 15 Jan. 1995
Noun
The original five Mental Floss staffers had no journalistic experience, except for one kid who'd worked on his high-school newspaper. Now they run a bimonthly with 10,000 subscribers and a newsstand presence of 50,000 copies.
—Mary Carmichael, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2002
Nena Farrell, WIRED, 6 Nov. 2024
The bimonthly intravenous infusion was a miracle drug to me.
—Nick Blackmer, Verywell Health, 22 Oct. 2024
R29 Team, refinery29.com, 18 Oct. 2024
Debt: $0 Paycheck amount (bimonthly): $2,280 Pronouns: She/her Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: $1,266 to rent a three-bedroom apartment with two roommates.
—R29 Team, refinery29.com, 5 Aug. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Bimonthly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bimonthly. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bimonthly
1 of 3 adjective
bimonthly
2 of 3 adverbbimonthly
3 of 3 noun
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