Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use awhile in a sentence

32 example sentences · adverb

Awhile means for some time; for a short time. Example: “Sit with me awhile.”

Examples of awhile by meaning

adverbFor some time; for a short time.

  • Sit with me awhile.
  • Take two cupfuls of rolled oats, put in bread pan, turn on four cupfuls of boiling water, stir for awhile.1911, Rufus Estes, Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus, page 83
  • Engine No. 18 went off into a shed to rest awhile, and No. 7, a precisely similar one, backed on to the train in her place.1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 137

adverbIn the meantime; during an implicit ongoing process.

  • Can I get you a drink awhile?

More sentences with awhile

  • Now that we've been walking awhile, I'm burning up in this coat! Time to take it off.From the entry burn up
  • You've been here awhile, but you better shove on from my town soon.From the entry shove on
  • Why don't you put down your briefcase and stay awhile?From the entry put down
  • If a man hasn't got laid in awhile, he's seen as an inkwell.2024 June 12, u/alienfranco, “Single women are happier... Whats^([sic]) your perspective on this?”, in Reddit, r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates…. From the entry inkwell
  • "When I say that you're supposed to say, 'After awhile, crocodile.'"1987, Stephen King, It: 2, page 231. From the entry seeya
  • Every once an' awhile they get my face sore. . . .1913, Jack London, chapter 5, in The Valley of the Moon. From the entry barber's itch
  • Far overhead the echoes of his voice hummed on awhile among the cedarn rafters.1910, Lord Dunsany, “In Zaccarath”, in A Dreamer’s Tales,, London: George Allen, page 221. From the entry cedarn
  • She is saying: "Well, I guess the country will be saved without me for awhile.1900, Fame, page 472. From the entry piping times
  • It's been awhile since I've played Josiemance.2020 January 24, bigfatcarp93, Reddit. From the entry Josiemance
  • “What do you mean wait awhile longer?” I complained, just little bit angry and a lot a bit frustrated.2011, M.T. Williams, The Wune's Way, page 44. From the entry a lot of bit
  • And after awhile he taught me names of everything.2008, Wilbur Cross, Gullah Culture in America, Praeger, published 2008, →ISBN, page 73. From the entry swage
  • After awhile, Guest Gulkan no longer knew whether he was alive or dead, awake or awrath in nightmare.2006, Hugh Cook, The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 491. From the entry awrath
  • The pulse was rapid, the blood pressure high, and for awhile the Blue Room pirouetted about me like an adagio dancer.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC. From the entry pirouette
  • The factor which had caused the militant five per cent to relax awhile from fomenting discord was the satellites.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 28. From the entry foment
  • So she thought awhile and said, "What about Lana?" For no reason at all it became Lana - pronounced Lah-nah.1942 September 5, Irving Wallace, “The Loves of Lana Turner”, in Liberty magazine. From the entry lana
  • They played awhile to Corinius’s great content, for at every throw he won and the other’s purse waxed light.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, pages 32–33. From the entry loaded
  • USENET has been around awhile now and the accepted rules are pretty much the result of eliminating things thta didn't work well.2007 June 8, stan, “Re: FAQ says no attachments - time to change ?”, in comp.lang.c+ (Usenet). From the entry USENET
  • He's gone to work awhile back.2004 Autumn, Julie Keith, “Pneumonia”, in The Hudson Review, volume 57, Iss. 3, page 440. From the entry fried egg
  • His DeutscheBank account did contain around fifty thousand dollars—his commission from the Harold Green scam—which would last him awhile in someplace Vancouverish.2003, Gary Shteyngart, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Riverhead Books, published 2002, →ISBN. From the entry Vancouverish
  • "Franklin's grotesque mortal envelope had disappeared from the poop to seek its needful repose, if only the beworried soul would let it rest awhile.1921, Chance. From the entry beworry
  • And time again My bluest lady fair Serenely still passed by And felt her goldlike Hair Ah! here a curlsome smile meekly awhile.1918, Eric Paul Schulze, Vers Ego. From the entry curlsome
  • All he wanted now was to rest a little; just to sit down awhile, behind a clumper, to stretch out his tormented legs, to lie back a few minutes.1924, George Allan England, The White Wilderness: A Story of the Great Newfoundland, page 22. From the entry clumper
  • He went over to it, held it in his hands awhile, feeling its coolness, smelling the clammy slaver of the lather in which the brush was stuck.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry slaver
  • Let the guest awhile be abiding, though he long for his homefare sore, To tarry at least for the morrow, that the gift I may fulfil.1912, William Morris, May Morris, The Collected Works of William Morris. From the entry homefare
  • Pare, wash and slice half a pound of fresh mushrooms, put them in a sautoir; cover, shake the sautoir once in awhile and cook ten minutes.1911, Rufus Estes, Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus. From the entry sautoir
  • In the evening, do not forget that the lamps and gaslights are using up a goodly supply of oxygen also—so freshen things up a little, once in awhile.1904, Yogi Ramacharaka [pseudonym; William Walker Atkinson], “Fresh Air”, in Hatha Yoga: Or The Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well-being…. From the entry gaslight
  • The pretty lips pouted awhile but then she glanced up and broke out into a joyous little laugh which had in it all the freshness of a young May morning.1922, James Joyce, chapter 13, in Ulysses. From the entry break out
  • After having looked at his Brownie book in bed awhile S. was laid down by his mother to be sung to sleep as usual and the gas was turned down.1902 May, M. C. Gale, H. Gale, “Children's Vocabularies”, in J. McKeen Cattell, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume LXI, New York…. From the entry männlein

Meaning of awhile

  1. adverb For some time; for a short time.
  2. adverb In the meantime; during an implicit ongoing process.

Full definition of awhile

Questions about awhile in a sentence

How do you use awhile in a sentence?
Awhile is used as an adverb. For example: “Sit with me awhile.”
What is a short sentence with awhile?
“Sit with me awhile.”
What does awhile mean?
Awhile means for some time; for a short time.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: awhile (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use awhile in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/awhile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.