Grammar . Either on the weekend or at the weekend

"On the weekend" may occasionally be heard. My impression is that it is more common amongst American speakers than in Britain. "At the weekend" is both British and American usage and is probably more usual and acceptable ('correct'), certainly if you are writing, because it is understood by everyone. "On" is more properly used with a day name ("I am going to the doctor's on Wednesday"; "I went to the match on Saturday"). To describe the time of something happening, you may hear "at the weekend", "during the weekend", "over the weekend": "I plan to tackle this job at/during/over the weekend" "They are getting married at the weekend" (hardly ever "during" or "over" because it is a specific event). "the weekend" generally refers to either the weekend just past ("last weekend") or the one immediately to come ("this weekend"). "Next weekend" can depend on the speaker. It sometimes means the coming weekend and it sometimes means "the weekend after this weekend". The same confusion can arise with expressions like "this Wednesday", "last Wednesday", "next Wednesday". If you are arranging a meeting with someone and they say "I am free next Wednesday", you would be wise to clarify it by saying something like "Is that the 18th?". If the conversation takes place before the weekend (say, on Thursday), then 'next Wednesday' almost certainly means 'Wednesday of next week' but if the conversation happens on a Monday, then 'next Wednesday' may either mean 'the day after tomorrow' ('this Wednesday') or 'the Wednesday of next week'.