Link Centre Dictionary

meanwhile

meanw·hile

UK/ˈmiːnwaɪl/ US/ˈmiːnhwaɪl/ common

adverb

1.

at the same time but in another place

  • “meanwhile, back at the ranch...”
2.

during the intervening time

  • “meanwhile I will not think about the problem”
  • “meantime he was attentive to his other interests”
  • “in the meantime the police were notified”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English menewhile, equivalent to mean (“intermediate”) + while. Adverb is by ellipsis from in the mean while, noun being conventionally written as one word after the adjective.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.