botany A plant having a life cycle that normally takes two seasons from germination to death to complete; flowering biennials usually bloom and fruit in the second season.

Roget 367: vegetable, vegetable kingdom; flora, verdure.    plant; tree, shrub, bush; creeper; herb, herbage; grass.    annual; perennial, biennial, triennial; exotic.    timber, forest; wood, woodlands; timberland; hurst^†, frith^†, holt, weald^†, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage^†, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney; underwood, brushwood; scrub; boscage, bosk^†, ceja [Sp.], chaparal, motte [U.S.]; arboretum etc. 371.    bush, jungle, prairie; heath, heather; fern, bracken; furze, gorse, whin; grass, turf; pasture, pasturage; turbary^†; sedge, rush, weed; fungus, mushroom, toadstool; lichen, moss, conferva^†, mold; growth; alfalfa, alfilaria^†, banyan; blow, blowth^†; floret^†, petiole; pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia.    foliage, branch, bough, ramage^†, stem, tigella^†; spray etc. 51; leaf.    flower, blossom, bine^†; flowering plant; timber tree, fruit tree; pulse, legume.    ... show more

Dutch: tweejarig, biënnale
Polish: roślina dwuroczna, roślina dwuletnia

Having a life cycle lasting two seasons:
— A biennial life cycle.
— Parsnips and carrots are biennial plants often grown as annuals.

synonym: two-year.

Roget 138: periodic, periodical; serial, recurrent, cyclical, rhythmical; recurring etc. v.; intermittent, remittent; alternate, every other.    hourly; diurnal, daily; quotidian, tertian, weekly; hebdomadal^†, hebdomadary^†; biweekly, fortnightly; bimonthly; catamenial^†; monthly, menstrual; yearly, annual; biennial, triennial, &c.; centennial, secular; paschal, lenten, etc. regular, steady, punctual, regular as clockwork.    ... show more

Dutch: tweejarig

Occurring every second year:
— They met at biennial conventions.

synonym: biyearly.