hourly

American  

[ouuhr-lee, ou-er-] / ˈaʊər li, ˈaʊ ər- /

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, occurring, or done each successive hour.

   hourly news reports.

2. computed or totaled in terms of an hour; using an hour as a basic unit of reckoning.

   hourly wages.

3. hired to work for wages by the hour.

   hourly workers.

4. frequent; continual.

---

adverb

1. every hour; hour by hour.

2. at each hour or during every hour.

3. frequently; continually.

hourly British  

/ ˈaʊəlɪ /

adjective

1. of, occurring, or done every hour

2. done in or measured by the hour

   we are paid an hourly rate

3. continual or frequent

---

adverb

1. every hour

2. at any moment or time

Etymology

Origin of hourly

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; hour, -ly

Example Sentences

Wide-eyed consumption of all the horrors we encounter on an hourly basis may look like attention, but it isn’t so different from indifference.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Adjusted for inflation, their hourly earnings inched up only 0.1% in March from a year earlier, slipping below the growth rate for all workers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Whereas the broader CPI tracks prices affecting all consumers, CPI-W only looks at prices affecting urban hourly wage and clerical workers.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

Valatsas highlighted the solid jobs growth of 178,000 in March, the fall in unemployment to 4.3% and the 3.5% increase in average hourly earnings.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 7, 2026

They’d been arriving on an hourly basis since the story had gotten out.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

Related Words

• annual
• intermittent
• monthly
• occasional
• recurrent
• recurring
• regular
• repeated
• routine
• seasonal
• sporadic
• weekly
• yearly