Word.ws English Dictionary

erstwhile

/ˈɜː(ɹ)st.waɪl//ˈɝst.waɪl/

erstwhile adverb: formerly; in the past.

Adverb

erstwhile (not comparable)

  1. (formal, literary) Formerly; in the past.
    Synonyms:
    erewhile

Adjective

erstwhile (not comparable)

  1. (India, literary) Former, previous.
    • “Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée^([sic]) his formal congé.[…]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Disappearance of Count Collini”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition...
    • As an aftermath of the erstwhile competition between companies, 41 goods depots served the Liverpool and Birkenhead docks in 1923.1964 November, P. F. Winding, “Re-shaping the LMR's North Western Line - 2”, in Modern Railways, page 343
  2. (proscribed) Respected, honourable.
    • If you're for one of my erstwhile opponents, that's O.K. Just don't work too hard.1999 November 1, Frank Bruni, quoting George W. Bush, “For Bush, an Adjustable Speech Of Tested Themes and Phrases”, in New York Times

erstwhile meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada

erstwhile in Tamil

முந்தைய, முன்னாட்களுக்குரிய, முன்னாள்களுக்குரிய

erstwhile in Malayalam

മുമ്പത്തെ, പണ്ടത്തെ, പഴയ

erstwhile in Kannada

ಮೊದಲಿನ, ಹಿಂದಿನ

Synonyms of erstwhile

11 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of erstwhile

Origin of erstwhile

From erst (“first, formerly”) + while.

Questions about erstwhile

What does erstwhile mean?
Erstwhile means formerly; in the past.
What is erstwhile in Tamil?
Erstwhile in Tamil is முந்தைய, முன்னாட்களுக்குரிய, முன்னாள்களுக்குரிய. See Erstwhile meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is erstwhile?
Erstwhile can be an adverb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce erstwhile?
Erstwhile is pronounced /ˈɜː(ɹ)st.waɪl/ (UK).

Words near erstwhile in the dictionary

  1. ERSPs
  2. erst
  3. erster
  4. ersters
  5. Erstfeld
  6. erstwhile
  7. erstwhiles
  8. Ersu
  9. ert
  10. Erta Ale
  11. Ertale

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: erstwhile (page history and authors); erstwhile (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); erstwhile (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); erstwhile (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-erstwhile.wav, En-us-erstwhile.oga.

Cite this entry: “erstwhile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/erstwhile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.