week
Americannoun
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weeks
plural
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a period of seven successive days.
That wallpapering I thought I could do in two days ended up taking me a whole week.
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the period of seven days from Sunday through Saturday, generally understood as the common representation of a week on a calendar.
The 1st of next month is a Tuesday, so the first full week will begin on the 6th.
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a period of seven successive days that begins with or includes an indicated day.
the week of June 3; Christmas week.
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(often initial capital letter) a period of seven successive days devoted to a particular celebration, honor, cause, etc..
National Book Week.
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the working days or working portion of the seven-day period; workweek.
Not all American workers put in the same number of hours on the job, but a 40-hour week is the norm.
adverb
noun
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a period of seven consecutive days, esp one beginning with Sunday
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a period of seven consecutive days beginning from or including a specified day
Easter week
a week from Wednesday
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the period of time within a week devoted to work
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a week devoted to the celebration of a cause
adverb
Usage
What does week mean? Week most generally refers to any period of seven consecutive days. The word week also commonly refers to the seven-day period that begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday (though in some places this may be different, with the week considered to begin on Monday, for example). There are 52 of these weeks in a calendar year. Sometimes, the word week is used to refer to a seven-day period that begins or includes a specific day, as in the week of September 5 or Thanksgiving week. It can also be used to refer to a seven-day period dedicated to a specific cause or cultural observation, as in National Grief Awareness Week. The word week is also often used to refer to the workweek (or schoolweek) to distinguish this span of (often five) days from the weekend. The standard workweek is from Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being considered the weekend, though working schedules vary widely. Many full-time jobs consist of a 40-hour week (five eight-hour days). The days within this five-day span are called weekdays, and the evenings of those days are called weeknights. The middle of the week is called midweek. The word weekly most commonly means done or happening once a week or every week, as in a weekly meeting. Example: They said it would take a week to get a reply, and it’s been six days already, so I’m hoping for a response tomorrow.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of week
First recorded before 900; Middle English weke, Old English wice; cognate with Dutch week, Old Norse vika “week,” Gothic wikō “turn”; akin to Latin vicis (genitive) “turn” ( see vice 3)
Explanation
Seven days make up one week, and there are 52 weeks in a year. If you won't see your friend again until next Thursday, you can say, "See you next week!" Before the adoption of the Roman calendar, a week was more of a vague kind of change or succession, like the turning of a full moon to a half moon, for example. The modern week is strictly calendar-related, and seven days long, unless you're talking about a "work week" or a "school week," as in "I have Friday off, so my school week ends tomorrow!"
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“One week loving our sweet little Lenny,” the couple wrote in the Instagram caption.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
But given what happened to Juarez and Garces Perez this week, what became of that policy?
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
But impact statements from their families are being read during the sentencing hearing this week.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The U.S. president is scheduled to welcome China’s President Xi Jinping to Washington on Wednesday evening for a slew of meetings this week.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
I’d noticed she had stepped up her work on it this week as she supervised my housework and needlework lessons.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Within weeks, he was placed on the super urgent waiting list for a transplant.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
But for now, the focus remains squarely on yields, especially with the start of third-quarter earnings season still a few weeks away.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
But what’s conventional wisdom today could look like folly six weeks from now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
"What we're talking about here is the loss of the crop over the course of the last couple of weeks and the couple of weeks ahead."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Once across it, we’ll have just two weeks to reach the Oklahoma start line.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
