weekend
Americannoun
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weekends
plural
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the end of a week, especially the period of time between Friday evening and Monday morning.
We spent the weekend at Virginia Beach.
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this period as extended by one or more holidays, days off, or the like, that immediately precede or follow.
We're getting a three-day weekend at Christmas.
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any two-day period taken or given regularly as a weekly rest period from one's work.
I have to work at the hospital on Saturdays and Sundays, so I take my weekends on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
adjective
verb (used without object)
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weekends,
present (3rd person singular)
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weekended,
past participle, past
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weekending
present participle
noun
verb
Usage
What does weekend mean? 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. Of course, not everyone works a Monday-to-Friday schedule. A person who normally works on the weekend (on Saturday and Sunday) will probably consider any two-day stretch that they don’t have to work as their weekend. Any additional days off on either side of a weekend are often considered part of the weekend. For example, a day off for a holiday on Friday or Monday will result in a three-day weekend. Or you could take off on Monday and Tuesday for a long weekend. Weekend can also be used as an adjective in reference to something that happens on a weekend (as in a weekend session), lasts only for a weekend (as in a weekend trip), or only applies during a weekend (as in weekend hours). Much less commonly, weekend can be used as a verb meaning to spend a weekend somewhere, as in We like to weekend in the Hamptons. This sense can sound a bit fancy or even pretentious (the same thing can be said about summer when it’s used as a verb). 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. Example: I spent the weekend at the beach, but now I have to go back to work.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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weekendsimple
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weekendssimple
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have weekendedperfect
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has weekendedperfect
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am weekendingprogressive
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are weekendingprogressive
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is weekendingprogressive
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have been weekendingperfect progressive
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has been weekendingperfect progressive
Past
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weekendedsimple
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had weekendedperfect
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was weekendingprogressive
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were weekendingprogressive
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had been weekendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of weekend
Explanation
For most of us, the weekend is Saturday and Sunday — the days you don't have to go to school or work. If you've got big weekend plans, time may seem to move extra slowly on Friday. We often take weekends for granted, looking forward to a nice, two-day rest from our weekday responsibilities, but the concept of a weekend is a relatively recent one. After the Industrial Revolution, workers often found themselves laboring six or even seven days a week. You can thank 20th-century labor unions for the modern weekend we know today — it was their activism that eventually standardized the five-day workweek.
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:
But, over the weekend, a stream of news stories contained information about the proposed summit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
After days of demonstrations in the city of Simara, the victim's family met government ministers, and secured a written agreement over the weekend.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Over the weekend, Carney said one reason the deal collapsed was that US negotiators sought last-minute restrictions on Canadian trade deals with other countries.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
So for two years, Fuld attended full days of classes every other weekend while maintaining some responsibilities with the Phillies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
I wish I could rewind to last weekend so I could study even harder, stay even more focused, refuse to take a break when Mom insisted.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
“I don’t think that there are many people who worked harder than my dad,” said Hannah Cannom, recalling childhood weekends spent hanging out at nurses’ stations around the hospital as her father made his rounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
There are no people on Lighthouse Island, apart from volunteers and the occasional visitor to the bird observatory at weekends.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
How do you want to spend your leisure time and weekends?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
The licence would allow the new location to remain open and sell alcohol until 23:30 BST on weekdays and midnight at weekends.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Even Sherrilyn, the head of museum security and Aru’s long-suffering babysitter on the weekends, didn’t come in on Mondays.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
There he weekended last week, driving up from Philadelphia through Valley Forge Park.
From Time Magazine Archive
The good weather gives us more time to write, because we aren’t raking leaves, shoveling snow, having drinks with our editors, or weekending in the Hamptons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2022
They don’t seem to like one another very much, these three gay besties weekending together at a tacky Airbnb in Palm Springs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2022
He is said to have been building a retirement compound in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second city, while weekending in the mountains where he helped changed the course of history.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2021
And the weekending shopkeepers and miners from La Wallonie, the French-speaking eastern half of the country, headed to Blankenberge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2016
If I were weekending at Bodfish's, I should have arrived there just half an hour ago.
From A Wodehouse Miscellany Articles & Stories by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
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.
