biennial
[bahy-en-ee-uh l]
- happening every two years: biennial games.
- lasting or enduring for two years: a biennial life cycle.
- Botany. completing its normal term of life in two years, flowering and fruiting the second year, as beets or winter wheat.
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- any event occurring once in two years.
- Botany. a biennial plant.
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Origin of biennial
Usage note
See bi-1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
flowershrubtreevinegrassseedlingweedherbshootperennialslipannualbushcuttingsproutgreenerycreeperbiennialExamples from the Web for biennial
Contemporary Examples
Those are results of the biennial Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey of public opinion on foreign policy (PDF).
At the Biennial, only a very few artworks escape to stand on their own.
She had similar fears when 2010 Biennial curators Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari came calling last year.
Historical Examples
The state legislature had assembled in biennial session that winter.
The Rainy Day Railroad WarHolman Day
Biennial means lasting two years or occurring once in two years.
OrthographyElmer W. Cavins
The sessions, however, were biennial, and could only be convened by authority of the Governor.
A Military GeniusSarah Ellen Blackwell
It is a biennial plant, and is cultivated for its leaves and leaf-stalks.
The Field and Garden Vegetables of AmericaFearing Burr
Elections in the Senate are of three sorts: annual, biennial, and extraordinary.
The Commonwealth of OceanaJames Harrington
biennial
- occurring every two years
- lasting two yearsCompare biannual
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- a plant, such as the carrot, that completes its life cycle within two years, developing vegetative storage parts during the first year and flowering and fruiting in its second yearCompare annual (def. 3), perennial (def. 3)
- an event that takes place every two years
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for biennial
adj.
"lasting for two years" (1620s); "occurring every two years" (1750), from Latin biennium "two-year period," from bi- (see bi-) + annus "year" (see annual). The vowel change is "due to the Latin phonetic law according to which the unaccented and closed radical syllable of the second element of compounds, original -ă- becomes -ĕ-" [Klein]. The noun meaning "a biennial plant" is attested by 1770.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
biennial
[bī-ĕn′ē-əl]
- Completing a life cycle normally in two growing seasons.
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- A biennial plant. In the first year, biennials normally produce a short stem, a rosette of leaves, and a fleshy root that acts as food supply. In the second season, biennials blossom, produce seed, use up their food supply, and die. Carrots, parsnips, and sugar beets are examples of biennials. Compare annual perennial.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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