Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A period of 14 days; two weeks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The space of fourteen days; two weeks.
Wiktionary
- n. chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand A period of fourteen nights; two weeks.
- adv. After a fortnight has passed.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The space of fourteen days; two weeks.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a period of fourteen consecutive days
Etymologies
- Contracted form of Old English fēowertȳne ("fourteen") niht ("nights"). Compare sennight. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English fourtenight, alteration of fourtene night, fourteen nights : Old English fēowertēne, fourteen; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots + Old English niht, night; see nokwt- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“General meeting to be adjourned from fortnight to fortnight* ntil committees are appointed.”
“One weekend in a fortnight is what's commonly awarded and it's not a meaningful time," said Adrienne Burgess, director of research at the Fatherhood Institute.”
“If you think it useful to write to me, within a fortnight from the present date, direct to me at the post-office, Portsmouth.”
“The Lib Dems are a minority administration, so the next fortnight is going to involve a fair amount of negotiation.”
“One of the most important names mentioned in the past fortnight is that of Marshall Zhukov.”
“A fortnight is not too long for a healthy man to restrain himself with advantage.”
“Alas! thought she, how long, in the careful and rare wear of Etherington and Cleves, all this would have served me; while here, in this daily use, a fortnight is scarce passed, yet all is spoilt and destroyed.”
“Surely the acquaintance of a fortnight is very insufficient to form her judgment of a character on which the happiness of her whole life is to depend.”
“Soon, did I say! when not a fortnight is yet expired of the long and tedious month I must linger out here!”
Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World
“The Whites, who sealed the title a fortnight ago, remain on course to break the 100-point barrier.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fortnight’.
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Yazhinni Spelling bee
tongue, stallion, scruple, salinity, schedule, rouge, populist, Permian, perspire, pasteurize, multitude, mournful and 227 more...
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NTDW2
yawp, amidships, smug, jounce, fallow, conscionable, polyp, whit, nouveau riche, palatial, encomiastic, exchequer and 182 more...
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Amalgamations
Words that have been smashed together.
keystone, touchstone, footprint, thunderhead, seesaw, textbook, leftovers, watchword, afterbirth, fieldwork, outcast, statesman and 148 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Malachi_Constant's Words
triumverate, pandemic, parsnip, delineate, zamboni, parka, laser, swoop, malevolent, benevolent, fracas, tipsy and 372 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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A Matter Of Time
Favorite time-related words.
vespertine, twilight, gloaming, eftsoon, eventide, dawn, eos, dusk, witching hour, ephemeral, candlemark, autumnal and 122 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (F)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
faery, fairy cross, fairy ring, falcon, fare-thee-well, farewell-summer, farthing, faun, fawn, felicitous, felicity, fencing and 109 more...
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Rilakkuma's list
The Velvetine Ruffians
gamine, waif, ruffian, villain, rake, libertine, velvetine, luminary, nom de plume, street urchin, epicurean, eventide and 256 more...
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Dain's Words
rabble, terminus, archaic, atavism, demiurge, waylay, syzygy, jocoserious, quark, entropy, cinnabar, shamble and 912 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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sarahatlee's Words
pants, nekkid, schadenfreude, unseasonably, illicit, glaswegian, cripes, futz, drawers, scupper, coulrophobic, redacted and 254 more...
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pop ups
erstwhile, allegiance, sacked, reinstate, vengeance, affluent, sedative, maverick, caricatives, abandoned, faux pas, ambience and 245 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for fortnight.
bilby I can't count that high :-( Nov 10, 2008
sarra ? bilby? Nov 9, 2008
bilby Uh ... Sep 1, 2008
sonofgroucho I've just realised now (and I'm a bit older than thirty)! Nov 25, 2007
angharad I was nearly thirty before I realised that it's called a fort-night because it's fourteen nights long. Dec 2, 2006