quarterly
Americanadjective
noun
-
quarterlies
plural
adjective
-
occurring, done, paid, etc, at intervals of three months
-
of, relating to, or consisting of a quarter
noun
adverb
-
once every three months
-
heraldry into or in quarters
a shield divided quarterly
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of quarterly
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at quarter, -ly
Explanation
Something that happens quarterly occurs four times per year, like your family's quarterly visit to your grandparents' house in Florida. Magazines that are published every three months come out quarterly — in fact, they're commonly referred to as quarterlies. For businesses, many things happen on a quarterly schedule, from the quarterly taxes they pay to quarterly reports sent to shareholders. Think of a year as consisting of four quarters; anything occurring once per quarter happens quarterly. The Latin root, quartus, means "the fourth."
Vocabulary lists containing quarterly
quar-, quad-
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quad, quar (four)
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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:
Return buybacks to their stated purpose: small, scheduled, off-the-run liquidity operations announced at quarterly refundings, never off-cycle responses to yield levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
But the quarterly trips to LA to see our kids and grandkids do add up.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
Nvidia is due to report quarterly results on Wednesday afternoon — and this time around, its profit contributions probably won’t be index-leading.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
In my hometown, Seattle, our Paramount Theatre hosts Silent Movie Mondays quarterly, accompanying each screening with a live performance on the venue’s original Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
Burry followed this letter with his quarterly report, which he hoped might make everyone feel a bit better.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
She wrote it while juggling a distinguished career at literary quarterlies and making a name for herself as an artist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
Robert Hughes, in Time, called Katz the Norman Rockwell of the intelligentsia, which was odd—the art-world intellectuals who wrote for October and the academic quarterlies consistently ignored him.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 20, 2018
As for what it all means, I suppose we’ll have to wait for the foreign policy thinktanks and cryogenics quarterlies to report.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2016
“I sent my stuff out to the quarterlies and it came back with arrogant notes,” she added.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2014
I would send my poems out, to literary quarterlies or magazines, and wait for their return.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
