: the time before something happens or before a specified period ends
The new computers won't arrive until next week, but we can continue to use the old ones in the meantime.
: meanwhile entry 2
meantime he had been attentive to his other interests—
H. R. Warfel
H. R. Warfel
: time that is based on the motion of the theoretical mean sun
To find local mean time, determine how many degrees of longitude you are from your time-zone standard. (Find your longitude on a map.) Multiply this number by four to get your correction in minutes. If you are east of the standard longitude your correction is a positive number; if you are west it is negative. Apply the correction to standard time to get your local mean time.—Sky & Telescope
Sky & Telescopecalled also mean solar time
Examples of meantime in a Sentence
Adverb
He can come back to work when he's feeling better. Meantime, he should be resting as much as possible.
Recent Examples on the Web
Annie Nova, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2025
Guardia Civil temporarily stopped the flight, found the family members on the plane and escorted them to a Mossos d’Esquadra station, where the child had been taken in the meantime for safety.
—Eve Chen, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025
Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
The Padres, meantime, displayed a pair of healthy, above-average closers Thursday in Suarez and Miller.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2025
PC Magazine, 10 July 2025
Preconfigured workflows play a key role in reducing mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR).
—Pritesh Parekh, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for meantime
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Noun
What borrowers can do in the meantime The hold on IBR discharges shouldn’t impact student loan borrowers who are still years away from debt forgiveness, experts said.
—Annie Nova, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2025
Guardia Civil temporarily stopped the flight, found the family members on the plane and escorted them to a Mossos d’Esquadra station, where the child had been taken in the meantime for safety.
—Eve Chen, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025
Adverb
And meantime, even ahead of iOS 26, heed Apple’s warning and do not reply to unknown senders.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
The Padres, meantime, displayed a pair of healthy, above-average closers Thursday in Suarez and Miller.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2025
Noun
In the mean time, read about Samsung's latest smartwatches.
—PC Magazine, 10 July 2025
Preconfigured workflows play a key role in reducing mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR).
—Pritesh Parekh, Forbes.com, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for meantime
Cite this Entry
“Meantime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meantime. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
meantime
1 of 2 noun
mean·time
ˈmēn-ˌtīm 
: the time between two events
meantime
2 of 2 adverb
: in the meantime
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