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.
He is said to hate imposing any assignments on his clerks that would require them to work on the weekends.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 10, 2026
The question now will be whether they are good enough to defeat Fiji and Argentina over the next two weekends.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2026
The event featured extraordinary security, strict no-phone policies and street closures around one of Manhattan’s busiest transit hubs during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
From Salon • Jul. 4, 2026
On weekends, my wife and I like to order from a specific Thai place that’s won many awards.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2026
At night and on weekends it was wonderfully quiet, and once we got back from Connecticut I spent a great deal of time there—reading, napping on his couch, doing his work and my own.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
