biannual

bi·an·nu·al
B3I1A1N1N1U1A1L1
UK/bʌɪˈanjuːəl/US/baɪˈænjuəl/

adjective

Occurring twice a year; semiannual.

UncommonScrabble 10

Meanings

adjectivebiannual (not comparable)

alternative bi-annual

  1. not comparableOccurring twice a year; semiannual.

    Biannual newsletter / The Society publishes a twice yearly newsletter, called "Headlines".

    2007 August 9, “Biannual Newsletter”, in Royal College of Nursing, archived from the original on 30 Oct 2009
    4 more examples

    The annual values were disaggregated into biannual values. Then the biannual values were disaggregated into quarterly values. Finally the quarterly values were disaggregated into the desired monthly values.

    1980, J[ose] D. Salas, J. W. Delleur, V. Yevjevich, W. L. Lane, Applied Modeling of Hydrologic Time Series, Littleton, Colo.: Water Resources Publication, →ISBN, section 8.9, page 448

    Collection of papers presented at the workshops during the 1988 biannual symposia in February (New Orleans) and May (Innsbruck).

    1989, “Introduction”, in Ursula Schneider, Michael Schratz, editors, Permanent Education Between New Illiteracy and High Power Technology: 1988 Biannual Symposia, New Orleans, La.: Institute for the Comparative Study of Public Policy, University of New Orleans, →ISBN

    […] the biannual meetings between the President of the European Council and the President of the United States were formalized, there were to be two meetings per year […]

    1992, Simon J. Nuttall, European Political Co-operation, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 286

    Under a lease, Abel is required to make biannual rent payments, one in January and one in July[…].

    2009, Jack P. Friedman, Jack C. Harris, Barry A. Diskin, Real Estate Handbook, 7th edition, Hauppage, N.Y.: Barron's Educational Series, →ISBN, page 163

    Synonyms: half-yearly, semiannual, twice-yearly

  2. not comparableproscribedOccurring once every two years; biennial.

    The relative share of agriculture in GDP of the West Bank (calculated on the basis of fixed 1986 prices, and as a two-year average to deal with the major biannual fluctuations in olive production) declined[…].

    1993, Agriculture: An Investment in Peace (Developing the Occupied Territories; 4), Washington, D.C.: World Bank Publications, →ISBN, page 1
    3 more examples

    Thus he argues that the members of the National Assembly were independent from the constituencies that elected them, because the latter (the assemblies, administrative and elected) are "biennially renewed," as was the National Assembly. […] This [being responsible to electors] is implicitly the case of the representatives in the National Assembly, who must also face biannual elections[…].

    1997, Steven Blakemore, Intertextual War: Edmund Burke and the French Revolution in the Writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine, and James Mackintosh, Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, →ISBN, pages 190–192

    Now, after having solved the biannual period problem back to period one of the ten biannual periods, i.e. quarters 77–84 it is necessary to convert the state variables, namely n, SK and GK, from biannual to annual units.

    2001, Kenneth I. Wolpin, Empirical Methods for the Study of Labor Force Dynamics (Fundamentals of Pure and Applied Economics; 60), Routledge, →ISBN, page 84

    "The Earth Charter opens a new phase[…]." (Mikhail Gorbachev, as quoted in The Earth Charter Initiative, Biannual Report 2002–2003, Earth Charter International Secretariat, http://www.earthcharter.org/files/resources/Biannual%20Report.pdf, p 10,[…]).

    2004, Lee Penn, “The Earth Charter”, in False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-world Religion, Hillsdale, N.Y.: Sophia Perennis, →ISBN, page 380, footnote 5

    Synonyms: biennial

nounbiannual (plural biannuals)

plural biannuals

  1. Something occurring twice each year.

    It was a biannual from April 1970 to October 1977 and has been a quarterly since fall 1978.

    1995, Tamkang Review, volume 36, Taipei: Graduate School of Western Languages and Literature, Tamkang University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 366

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveOccurring twice a year; semiannual.

adjectiveOccurring once every two years; biennial.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveoccurring or payable twice each year

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
  3. Proto-Italic*dwi-
  4. Latinbi-
  5. Englishbi-
  6. Englishannual
  7. Englishbiannual

From bi- + annual.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch halfjaarlijks
  • halfjaarlijksoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Finnish puolivuosittainen
  • puolivuosittainenoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
German halbjährlich
  • halbjährlichoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Greek εξαμηνιαίος, διετής
  • εξαμηνιαίος (examiniaíos)occurring twice a year; semi-annual
  • διετής (dietís)occurring twice a year; semi-annual
Hindi अर्धवार्षिक
  • अर्धवार्षिक (ardhavārṣik)occurring twice a year; semi-annual
Hungarian félévenkénti
  • félévenkéntioccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Irish leathbhliantúil
  • leathbhliantúiloccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Italian semestrale
  • semestraleoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Norwegian halvårlig, halvårs-
  • halvårligoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
  • halvårs-occurring twice a year; semi-annual
Portuguese bianual
  • bianualoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Russian полугоди́чный
  • полугоди́чный (polugodíčnyj)occurring twice a year; semi-annual
Spanish bianual
  • bianualoccurring twice a year; semi-annual
Cite this entry
APA

biannual. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biannual

MLA

“biannual.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biannual. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biannual,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biannual.

Source: biannual on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.