weekends
Americanadverb
adverb
Usage
What does weekends mean? The word weekends can be used as an adverb meaning every weekend or on or during weekends, as in I work weekends, so I always miss my son’s Saturday games. Weekends is of course also the plural of the noun weekend. The weekend is most commonly considered the period between Friday evening and the end of Sunday. More strictly speaking, the weekend is thought to consist of Saturday and Sunday (often regardless of whether the calendar week is considered to begin on Sunday or Monday). In practical terms, the weekend is typically considered to be the period between the end of the workweek (or school week) and the beginning of a new one—which is why most people consider their weekend to start on Friday night, after work or school. However, when weekends is used as an adverb, it usually means every Saturday and Sunday or on Saturdays and Sundays. For example, a store that’s open weekends is open during at least some hours every Saturday and Sunday. Example: I live on campus during the week but I go home weekends.
Etymology
Origin of weekends
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.
Weekends now seem to be the worse time for oil traders to let their guard down.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 2026
Weekends in Iran begin on Thursdays, while this Saturday marks a long-standing national holiday.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
Another young female worker, who the BBC is calling Amanda, highlighted two experiences with Wallace while filming the Channel 5 show, Gregg Wallace's Big Weekends, in 2019.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2024
Guest: Tony Tran, senior tech editor at Slate and author of the feature “My Weekends with the Dead.”
From Slate • Oct. 27, 2024
“The San Antonio River. It flows lazy, through downtown. The River Walk, it’s called. Weekends, there’s partying. People in small boats, some eating, drinking by the river. All kinds of music. Mariachi, jazz, pop.”
From "Ghost Boys" 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.
