bicoastal

adjective

bi·​coast·​al (ˌ)bī-ˈkō-stəl 

: of, relating to, or occurring on both the east and west coasts of the U.S.

And everybody girded for a day of bicoastal press conferences in Washington, D.C., and Redmond, Wash., marked by a ritual exchange of tortured metaphors …

—Steven Levy

… an animal behaviorist with a bicoastal practice who hosts pet-advice radio shows in New York and Los Angeles.

—David Lida

After conducting a bicoastal relationship, Kevin and Linda married in 1989.

—Toby Kahn

also : living or working on both the east and west coasts of the U.S.

Similarly, one now sees frequent references to "bicoastal" people who go back and forth between New York and Los Angeles.

—Hans Fantel

The actor flies back and forth as often as his schedule will allow, but being bicoastal has more than its share of drawbacks.

—Mary Alice Kellogg

Did you know?

How Bicoastal Changed Its Meaning

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.

Examples of bicoastal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

A whole lot has happened in West Coast hip-hop in the interim: the bicoastal gang rivalry that claimed the lives of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Snoop’s acquittal for murder in 1996. —August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2024

Rachel Saltzman has been named partner at bicoastal management company Schachter Entertainment. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 11 Dec. 2024

With details that have been whispered about for months and openly discussed (with no victims named besides Ventura) on social media and in more traditional media by songwriter Tiffany Red last year, the claims in this latest lawsuit could find Combs facing bicoastal courtrooms. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 29 Nov. 2024

The killer might just be the most dangerous thing of all: bicoastal. —Tom Smyth, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1920, in the meaning defined above

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