week-long

IPA/ˈwiːk lɒŋ/
IPA/ˈwiːk lɔːŋ/

week-long — adjective

1. continuing through a full period of seven days from start to finish

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

continuing through a full period of seven days from start to finish

Example

The city's week-long book fair attracted authors from twelve different countries.

Linh signed up for a week-long cooking course during her summer break.

attributive use: week-long + course / programme / trip

Synonyms
  • seven-day

    more literal and less common; emphasises the exact number of days rather than the idea of a full calendar week

  • weeklong

    same meaning; closed-form spelling used especially in American English

Grammar Patterns

week-long + noun

Usage Note

Nearly always used before a noun. The hyphen is standard in British English, while the closed form 'weeklong' is common in American English.

Common Mistakes

The company offers a weekly training course for new employees.' (when meaning a course that lasts one week).
The company offers a week-long training course for new employees.
'weekly' means happening every week, not lasting a week.

Word family

  • week
    nounA1
  • long
    adjectiveA1
  • weekly
    adjectiveB1
  • weeks-long
    adjectiveB2
  • months-long
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

'Week-long' and 'weeklong' are spelling variants with identical meaning and use — both describe something that lasts a full week. The hyphenated form is more common in British English; the closed form appears more often in American publications. 'Seven-day' is a more literal alternative that also works attributively (a seven-day course, a seven-day trip), but it emphasises the precise count of days rather than the sense of a complete calendar-week period. 'Weekly' is a frequent source of confusion: it means 'happening or occurring once every week' (e.g., a weekly meeting), not 'lasting a week.' A learner who writes 'a weekly training programme' when they mean a programme that runs for seven days is using the wrong word.

weeklong ↗seven-dayweekly ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

A compound formed from 'week' (from Old English 'wice' / 'wucu', of Germanic origin) and 'long' (from Old English 'lang', also Germanic). The hyphenated compound 'week-long' first appeared in the mid-19th century (recorded 1847) as a straightforward combination meaning 'lasting a week.'

First known use

1847

1847, in the meaning defined above