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Candy Posted 23 years ago
Grammar

Meantime / meanwhile

Could you please tell me if I can use these two words in the same way?
Is "meanwhile" a little more casual than "meantime"?

meantime / meanwhile

Also, would you please teach me how to use these phrases with some example sentences?

for the meantime / for the meanwhile / in the meantime

Thanks for your help in advance!!
  

Top answer

Hi Candy, Meantime is a noun which is used to mean 'an intervening period of time'. Meanwhile can refer to an intervening period of time too, but it can also mean 'at the same time, while something else takes place'. For example; "On Friday I am going to Hong Kong but IN THE MEANTIME, (the time between now and Friday), I will continue going to school" "On Friday I am going to Hong Kong but MEANWHILE I will continue going to school" As stated above, meanwhile can also mean 'at the same time' For example; "I go to school, meanwhile the staff in Hong Kong play golf and drink beer" I hope this helps you.

— Mike in Japan

  • Hi Candy, Meantime is a noun which is used to mean 'an intervening period of time'.
  • Meanwhile can refer to an intervening period of time too, but it can also mean 'at the same time, while something else takes place'.
  • For example; "On Friday I am going to Hong Kong but IN THE MEANTIME, (the time between now and Friday), I will continue going to school" "On Friday I am going to Hong Kong but MEANWHILE I will continue going to school" As stated above, meanwhile can also mean 'at the same time' For example; "I go to school, meanwhile the staff in Hong Kong play golf and drink beer" I hope this helps you.
  • Cheers
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15 Answers
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Hi Candy,

Meantime is a noun which is used to mean 'an intervening period of time'. Meanwhile can refer to an intervening period of time too, but it can also mean 'at the same time, while something else takes place'.

For example;
"On Friday I am going to Hong Kong but IN THE MEANTIME, (the time between now and Friday), I will continue going to school"
"On Friday I a
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From cambridge online dictionary, meanwhile is adverb, while meantime is a noun.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=49518&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambri
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Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply!
Now I understand meanwhile and meantime, but I'm still not clear with "for
the meantime and "for the meanwhile".
What is the difference between these two?
No difference at all?

Candy is here
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Hi jiaogiang1,

Many thanks for your help.

I am still confused with the phrases, "for the ......"
Let me try these adresses for my study
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As I understand it;
'For the meantime' should be 'In the meantime' (in the intervening period of time)
and
'For the meanwhile' should simply be 'meanwhile' (no need for 'in the' or 'for the'), because it is not a noun.
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0 Although most authorities now consider these words interchangeable, some people still prefer to use “meanwhile” when it stands alone at the beginning of a sentence: “Meanwhile the dog buried the baby’s pacifier in the garden.” They prefer “meantime” to be used only in the expression “in the meantime”: “In the meantime, the dog chewed up my last tennis ball.”0-
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0Anon, thanks for your contribution, but did you happen to notice that this post dates from 2003??0-
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for the meantime i will process my international drivers license.
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This is true, but meantime can absolutely NOT be used by itself at the beginning of a sentence, so it is not at all interchangeable with meanwhile in that case. You would never say:

"Meantime, I was looking around for something to do".

"In the meantime" must be used in this case for the sentence to have any meaning.
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I certainly do sometimes say (in colloquial English):

"Meantime, take care of yourself...."

So, I profoundly disagree with your prescriptive comments.
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