Definition of meanwhile
(Entry 1 of 2)
: the time before something happens or before a specified period ends : meantime
in the meanwhile colleges and universities have become somewhere near one hundred times more complex— Dennis O'Brien
meanwhile
adverbDefinition of meanwhile (Entry 2 of 2)
1
: during the intervening time
meanwhile, however, new projects are being undertaken this year— Jonathan Eberhart
2
: at the same time
You can set the table, and meanwhile I'll start cooking dinner.
Test Your Vocabulary
Name That Food
-
- Name these cookies!

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
A daily challenge for crossword fanatics.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share meanwhile
Time Traveler for meanwhile
The first known use of meanwhile was in the 14th century
See more words from the same century