Word.ws English Dictionary

all the while

all the while adverb: at the same time as, usually over an extended period.

Adverb

all the while

  1. (idiomatic) At the same time as, usually over an extended period.
    • The good fortune which attended him throughout life may have been partly owing to this cause as well as to his undoubted valour, for though he never lost a battle, nothing is more astounding than his imprudence and the easy confidence with which he trusted Somerset, Warwick, Montague, and others...1889, Leslie Stephen, Dictionary of National Biography, page 82
    • Sulla, encamped near Scipio, and amusing him with caresses under pretence of an approaching peace, was all the while corrupting his troops.1891, Plutarchus, Plutarch's Lives, page 8
    Synonyms:
    the while

Synonyms of all the while

Questions about all the while

What does all the while mean?
All the while means at the same time as, usually over an extended period.
What part of speech is all the while?
All the while is an adverb.

Words near all the while in the dictionary

  1. all the tea in China
  2. all the time
  3. all the way
  4. all the way to Egery and back
  5. all the way to Sunday
  6. all the while
  7. all the world
  8. all the world and his wife
  9. all the world and Little Billing
  10. all the world's a stage
  11. all there

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: all the while (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-all the while.ogg.

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