the whole time
noun
1
: since something began : during the entire period of time
The police knew the whole time who was guilty.
2
British
: at all times : always
You can't be right the whole time.
3
British, informal
: very often
My sisters and I used to fight the whole time.
Examples of the whole time in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
It’s been amazing the whole time, but everybody was just on fire.
—
Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
Two tiny spring cubs also indulged, but their mother huffed at them from outside the video frame the whole time.
—Bjorn Dihle, Outdoor Life, 21 Sep. 2023
The bottom shows the potential tidal signal over the whole time series.
—Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 30 Aug. 2023
Organizers of the Rolling Loud festival claimed that Cardi, or at least her people, knew Offset would be joining her onstage the whole time.
—Molly Mulshine, ELLE, 10 Sep. 2023
Some people snoring, some people rolling their eyes, some laughing, and I was just frozen in place the whole time.
—Liz Appel, Vogue, 8 Sep. 2023
The van will pick up the student at a later stop so the child is under adult supervision the whole time.
—Krista Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 15 Aug. 2023
The indictment hinges on the fact that Trump allegedly knew the whole time that there was no fraud in the election, but continued to insist that there was.
—Tori Otten, The New Republic, 1 Aug. 2023
If the car is controlling acceleration, braking, and lane centering as well as performing automatic lane changes and monitoring blind spots — and your hands are in your lap the whole time — why shouldn’t that be described as self-driving or autonomous?
—Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 31 July 2023
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Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
Two tiny spring cubs also indulged, but their mother huffed at them from outside the video frame the whole time.
—Bjorn Dihle, Outdoor Life, 21 Sep. 2023
The bottom shows the potential tidal signal over the whole time series.
—Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 30 Aug. 2023
Organizers of the Rolling Loud festival claimed that Cardi, or at least her people, knew Offset would be joining her onstage the whole time.
—Molly Mulshine, ELLE, 10 Sep. 2023
Some people snoring, some people rolling their eyes, some laughing, and I was just frozen in place the whole time.
—Liz Appel, Vogue, 8 Sep. 2023
The van will pick up the student at a later stop so the child is under adult supervision the whole time.
—Krista Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 15 Aug. 2023
The indictment hinges on the fact that Trump allegedly knew the whole time that there was no fraud in the election, but continued to insist that there was.
—Tori Otten, The New Republic, 1 Aug. 2023
If the car is controlling acceleration, braking, and lane centering as well as performing automatic lane changes and monitoring blind spots — and your hands are in your lap the whole time — why shouldn’t that be described as self-driving or autonomous?
—Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 31 July 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the whole time.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near the whole time
Cite this Entry
“The whole time.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20whole%20time. Accessed 2 Oct. 2023.
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