What does While mean?
Definitions for While
ʰwaɪl, waɪlWhile
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word While.
Princeton's WordNet
while, piece, spell, patchnoun
a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
"he was here for a little while"; "I need to rest for a piece"; "a spell of good weather"; "a patch of bad weather"
Wiktionary
whilenoun
A certain duration of time, a period of time.
He lectured for quite a long while.
Etymology: hwil. Cognate with wil.
whileverb
To pass (time) idly.
Etymology: hwil. Cognate with wil.
whileconjunction
During the same time that.
He was sleeping while I was singing.
Etymology: hwil. Cognate with wil.
whileconjunction
although
This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating.
Etymology: hwil. Cognate with wil.
whileconjunction
until
Etymology: hwil. Cognate with wil.
Webster Dictionary
Whilenoun
space of time, or continued duration, esp. when short; a time; as, one while we thought him innocent
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
Whilenoun
that which requires time; labor; pains
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
Whileverb
to cause to pass away pleasantly or without irksomeness or disgust; to spend or pass; -- usually followed by away
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
Whileverb
to loiter
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
While
during the time that; as long as; whilst; at the same time that; as, while I write, you sleep
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
While
hence, under which circumstances; in which case; though; whereas
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
While
until; till
Etymology: [AS. hwl; akin to OS. hwl, hwla, OFries. hwle, D. wigl, G. weile, OHG. wla, hwla, hwl, Icel. hvla a bed, hvld rest, Sw. hvila, Dan. hvile, Goth. hweila a time, and probably to L. quietus quiet, and perhaps to Gr. the proper time of season. 20. Cf. Quiet, Whilom.]
Freebase
While
"While" is a word in the English language that functions both as a noun and as a subordinating conjunction. Its meaning varies largely based on its intended function, position in the phrase and even the writer or speaker's regional dialect. As a conjunction, it is synonymous with the word "whilst", a form often considered archaic in American and Canadian English, as well as in some style guides on both sides of the Atlantic.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
While
hwīl, n. a space of time: trouble spent.—adv. during the time that: at the same time that, as long as.—v.t. to cause to pass without irksomeness (with away).—conjs. While, Whilst, as long as: at the same time that: (Shak.) until; Whiles (B.), while, at the same time that.—adv. (Scot.) at times (orig. gen. of A.S. hwíl).—advs. Whī′lom, Whī′lome (Milt.), formerly, once (orig. dat. pl. of A.S. hwíl, time).—Every once in a while, now and then; The while (Shak.), in the meantime; The whilst (Shak.), while: in the meantime; Worth while, worth the trouble and time taken. [A.S. hwíl; Goth. hweila, Ger. weile.]
Editors Contribution
while
A period of known time.
While at the shop we saw some new cheese we thought we'd try.
Submitted by MaryC on March 19, 2020
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'While' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #149
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'While' in Written Corpus Frequency: #554
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'While' in Nouns Frequency: #744
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of While in Chaldean Numerology is: 2
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of While in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of While in a Sentence
While it's true that Guaido has been recognized internationally, the real power of the state is still in the hands of Nicolas Maduro.
While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country.
While Chuck Grassley has moved forward several circuit court nominees without their home state senator's blue slips, doing so to the ranking member of the committee would be a dramatic escalation and slap in the face.
One of the reasons we came to Iraq, one of the reasons we committed ourselves, was to restore the territorial integrity of Iraq and the sovereignty of the Iraqi government over all of Iraq, while we may not be directly providing them assistance, the idea that the assistance flows through Baghdad ... has both provided for the support to the Kurds but also has reinforced the nature of the sovereignty of the Iraqi government.
I remember thinking I want to move home to New Hampshire. ... You just want to go home, and you don't want to do anything scary. And then I found a woman who put me on a pill called Klonopin that all it does is block panic attacks. And that really saved my life in that I was able to go to work at' Saturday Night Live' and exist through each day while I was figuring this out.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for While
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- عندما, بينماArabic
- estona, mentre, malgratCatalan, Valencian
- byť, chvíle, zatímcoCzech
- medens, mensDanish
- obwohl, Weilchen, Zeitspanne, solange, Weile, währendGerman
- καθώς, αν και, καίτοι, διάστημα, χρόνος, ενόσω, ενώ, περνώ, μολονότιGreek
- dum, kvankamEsperanto
- aunque, vagar, rato, siempre y cuando, mientrasSpanish
- aika, sillä aikaa kun, vaikka, samaan aikaan kunFinnish
- moment, quoique, tant, pendant que, bien que, tandis queFrench
- skoftWestern Frisian
- agus, tamallIrish
- greisScottish Gaelic
- mentres, namentres, entrementres, tempoGalician
- जबHindi
- ben que, tempore, durante queInterlingua
- seraya, sementaraIndonesian
- dum ke, dumIdo
- benché, malgrado, mentreItalian
- 時, 間, ...ながらJapanese
- 하는 동안Korean
- ماوه, ئهگهرچیKurdish
- dumLatin
- kamērLatvian
- макар, иако, додекаMacedonian
- sementara, semasaMalay
- terwijl, tijdje, momentje, poosje, een hele tijdDutch
- stund, medan, mensNorwegian
- yínee'Navajo, Navaho
- chociaż, gdy, chwila, jakiś czasPolish
- embora, enquanto, malgrado, tempoPortuguese
- deși, în timp ceRomanian
- хотя, в то время, как, вре́мя, [[промежу́ток]] [[время, до тех пор, пока, покаRussian
- dok, докSerbo-Croatian
- stund, tag, fastän, medanSwedish
- rağmen, iken, -kenTurkish
- جبکہUrdu
- moumint, mågré ki, sol tins ki, houbonde, tins ki, hapêye, cwekiWalloon
- בשעתYiddish
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