meantime

English

Alternative forms

• mean time

Etymology

From Middle English, as mean +‎ time. Adverb is by ellipsis from in the meantime.

Pronunciation

• enPR: mēnʹtīm, IPA: /ˈmiːntaɪm/, X-SAMPA: /"mi:ntaIm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

meantime (uncountable)

1. The time spent waiting for another event; time in between.

   I'll get started tomorrow, but in the meantime let's see if we can get a few more opinions.

Synonyms

• between-time

Translations

Translations

• Dutch: ondertussen (nl)
• French: pendant ce temps
• Italian: frattempo (it) m, attesa (it)

• Latin: interea (la), interim (la)
• Serbo-Croatian: međuvrijeme (sh) n

Derived terms

• for the mean time, for the meantime
• in mean time, in meantime
• in the mean time, in the meantime
• this mean time, this meantime

Related terms

• meanwhile

Adverb

meantime (comparative more meantime, superlative most meantime)

1. during the interval; meanwhile
   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:

     Meantime Pope Urban II convoked two councils, one after another.

   • 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, 1992 Bantam edition, ISBN 0553278193, page 97:

     Lunch will be in twenty minutes. Meantime: I have […]

Usage notes

Usually appears sentence-initially.

Translations

meanwhile

• Finnish: sillä välin (fi)