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
Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 May 2024
North of Columbia, Tom Thumb Squares holds weekly and bimonthly square dance classes at Glen Mar Church and Hollifield Station Elementary School in Ellicott City.
—Allana Haynes, Baltimore Sun, 1 Apr. 2024
Under the city proposal, the bimonthly sewer charge for a typical single-family home would increase from $75.40 to $92.04 in October, according to sanitation officials.
—Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024
Photograph: Nena Farrell Packed Calendar The new Books of Power come from a new calendar event: the bimonthly Bookseller.
—Nena Farrell, WIRED, 22 Mar. 2024
The source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at CPIs for Los Angeles and Orange counties, a monthly tally, and bimonthly results for the Inland Empire that were released Tuesday, Feb. 13.
—Jonathan Lansner, Orange County Register, 13 Feb. 2024
In bimonthly meetings, Reid gets about 75 business owners at the table with department leaders, faith leaders, the neighborhood council, the police department and the sheriff’s department to figure out what can be done.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2024
Ramirez plans to take her monthly set, which brought together DJs from L.A., Detroit and New York and spawned a bimonthly Line Hotel residency in San Francisco, to another venue.
—Kamren Curiel, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2024
During its bimonthly meeting on Tuesday, the city council voted unanimously to conditionally allocate the funding for a low-interest, microloan program following a presentation from City Manager Graham Mitchell.
—Lauren J. Mapp, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2023
Dillon Mullan, Baltimore Sun, 10 May 2024
If you’re paid bimonthly, that’s $700 per paycheck.
—Tanza Loudenback, wsj.com, 11 Jan. 2024
Delivery cadence: Not all toy subscription boxes come every month; some come bimonthly, quarterly, or even on-demand.
—Julia Pelly, Parents, 24 Oct. 2023
Late fees for nonpayment are $25 bimonthly if the payment is not received by 5 p.m. on the payment due date.
—Danielle Douglas-Gabriel The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 16 Sep. 2023
With the help of her business partner and wife, Soraya Salmon, and their friend circle of DJs and creatives, the day party B4 THE INTERNET went from daydream to reality, attracting 100 to 150 people bimonthly in the same bar in which it was born.
—Patrice Peck, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2023
Teen Open Mic Night, 7-9 p.m. July 15 through Nov. 18, bimonthly creative outlet for teens, featuring music, poetry and more.
—Cindy Kent, Sun Sentinel, 5 July 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bimonthly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Bimonthly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bimonthly. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bimonthly
1 of 3 adjective
bimonthly
2 of 3 adverbbimonthly
3 of 3 noun
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