weekly
Americanadjective
-
happening or taking place once a week or every week
-
determined or calculated by the week
adverb
noun
Usage
What does weekly mean? Weekly most commonly means once a week or every week. It can be used this way as an adjective, as in a weekly meeting, or an adverb, as in We plan to meet weekly. Something described as weekly may happen on the same day every week or simply once a week at any time. Weekly can also mean calculated by week, as in I used to have a weekly quota, but now it’s monthly. Weekly can also be used as a noun referring to a publication that’s published weekly, as opposed to daily or monthly, for example (a daily newspaper can be called a daily). It’s often used in the name of such publications, like Us Weekly. Example: New episodes of my weekly podcast come out every Monday.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of weekly
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at week, -ly
Explanation
If you routinely go to a yoga class every single Wednesday, you go weekly, or once every seven days. You might even refer to it as your weekly yoga class. Anything that happens once a week is weekly, whether it's your weekly viewing of a TV show, your weekly algebra study group, or your family's weekly pizza night. At work you might get a weekly paycheck — or you might have a weekly job, watering your neighbors' plants and feeding their fish every Saturday morning. A magazine or newspaper that's published once a week is sometimes called a weekly, too.
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.
This is a special World Cup edition of the Sports newsletter, a curated weekly tour of WSJ’s unique take on the sports world.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
"Everyone sets out a weekly plan of roughly when they're starting and finishing each day, so the whole team knows where everyone is."
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
They worked on it for more than a year, with weekly prayer group meetings.
From Salon • Jun. 9, 2026
Notably, its trend has been remarkably consistent; the last weekly losing streak of more than two consecutive weeks occurred 10 months ago.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
The sixteen-page weekly paper set up its office in New York City in the same building where the Women’s Loyal National League had once rented space.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
