"while" meaning in English

See while in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ʍaɪl/ [UK], /waɪl/ [US] Audio: en-us-while.ogg [US] Forms: while [singular], [plural]
Head templates: {{noun4}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A while is a short time.
    Sense id: simple-while-en-noun-uU4984wW

Preposition

IPA: /ʍaɪl/ [UK], /waɪl/ [US] Audio: en-us-while.ogg [US] Forms: while
Head templates: {{preposition}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If x happens while y happens, they happen at the same time.
    Sense id: simple-while-en-prep-LLwk1b9q

Verb

IPA: /ʍaɪl/ [UK], /waɪl/ [US] Audio: en-us-while.ogg [US] Forms: while [canonical], whiles [third-person, singular], whiled [past], whiled [past, participle], whiling [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|whil|e}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you while away the time, you spend it doing something not very productive.
    Sense id: simple-while-en-verb-jmaj70gi
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Preposition"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "preposition"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He fell asleep while sitting at his desk."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x happens while y happens, they happen at the same time."
      ],
      "id": "simple-while-en-prep-LLwk1b9q"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "while"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun4"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After a while I will stop working and cook food for us."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A while is a short time."
      ],
      "id": "simple-while-en-noun-uU4984wW"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "singular-only"
  ],
  "word": "while"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiles",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiled",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiling",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "whil",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "On Sundays, I like to while away the hours by reading."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you while away the time, you spend it doing something not very productive."
      ],
      "id": "simple-while-en-verb-jmaj70gi"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "while"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Preposition"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "preposition"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He fell asleep while sitting at his desk."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If x happens while y happens, they happen at the same time."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "while"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun4"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "After a while I will stop working and cook food for us."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A while is a short time."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tags": [
    "singular-only"
  ],
  "word": "while"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "while",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiles",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiled",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiled",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "whiling",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "whil",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "On Sundays, I like to while away the hours by reading."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you while away the time, you spend it doing something not very productive."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʍaɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/WaIl/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/waɪl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/waIl/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-while.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophones": [
        "wile"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "while"
}

Download raw JSONL data for while meaning in English (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2024-10-20 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.