Word of the Day

: April 9, 2015

bicoastal

adjective bye-KOAST-ul

What It Means

: of or relating to or living or working on both the east and west coasts of the United States

bicoastal in Context

Richard and Laura had become a bicoastal couple, often shuttling between their primary home in New York and their vacation ranch in San Diego.

"Mish grew up in Southern California and now lives near the Chesapeake Bay. She uses those bicoastal influences to inspire her beachy, nautical designs." - Zoë Read, Baltimore Sun, January 1, 2015

Did You Know?

Bicoastal is a word whose meaning shifted in the 1970s to reflect our mobile society. Prior to that, the term was occasionally used in general contexts involving both coasts (as in "a bicoastal naval defense"). These days bicoastal is almost always associated with people who make frequent trips between one coast and the other. An article with a Los Angeles dateline published in The New York Times in 1983 declared bicoastal to be "a popular term among an affluent, mobile set of Angelenos." But Angelenos weren't the only ones using the term-by that time, the word had already been appearing in national magazines.