Word.ws English Dictionary

whilst

/ʍaɪlst//waɪlst/

whilst adverb: often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.

Adverb

whilst (not comparable)

  1. (archaic or obsolete except dialectal) Often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.
    • Nay, I prethee put on this gown, & this beard, make him beleeue thou art ſir Topas the Curate, doe it quickly. Ile call ſir Toby the whilſt.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • Hero. Leave, leave, tis novv too late. She is dead, her laſt is breathed. / Cleo[phila]. VVhat ſhall vvee doe. / Her[o]. Goe run, / And tell the Duke; and vvhilſt ile cloſe her eyes.c. 1607–1611 (first performance), Franc[is] Beaumont, Jo[hn] Fletcher, Cupids Revenge. […], 3rd edition, London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews], published 1635, →OCLC, Act II, scene [v], signature [D4]...

Conjunction

whilst

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare) During the whole, or until the end, of the time that; as long as, at the same time.
    • Drivers must switch off engines whilst on stand.
    • I ſaw a Smith ſtand with his hammer (thus) / The whilſt his Iron did on the Anuile coole.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    Synonyms:
    as, when, while, whilom, whiles
  2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare) Within, or before the end, of the time that.
    • [P]ray, step down to the cellar and fetch us a bottle of the Burgundy, 1678—it is the fourth bin from the right-hand turn—And I say, Craigie—you may fetch up half-a-dozen whilst you are about it—Egad, we'll make a night on't.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for...
    Synonyms:
    as, when, while, whilom
  3. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare) Although; in contrast; whereas.
    • His company must do his minions grace, / Whil'ſt I at home ſtarue for a merrie looke: / Hath homelie age th'alluring beauty tooke / From my poore cheeke?c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • So then I am not lame, poore, nor diſpiſ'd, / VVhilſt that this ſhadow doth ſuch ſubſtance giue, / That I in thy abundance am ſuffic'd, / And by a part of all thy glory liue: […]1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 37”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    as, when, while, whilom
  4. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare) Besides; in addition.
    • Modern engine sheds of advanced design have also been built at Radyr, Abercynon, and elsewhere, whilst other depots have been remodelled and re-equipped.1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 161
    • The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.1963, Margery Allingham, “The Boy in the Corner”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 214
    Synonyms:
    as, when, while, whilom
  5. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, literary, rare) Only if; provided that; as long as; so long as.
    Synonyms:
    as, when, while, whilom

whilst meaning in Urdu and Bengali

whilst in Urdu

whilst
تا tā

whilst in Bengali

যখন, কালীন

Examples of whilst in a sentence

  • What money have I bought with me? […] even but a small sum; something in hand the whilst.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter X, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and...
  • […] Ile nere be drunk whilſt I liue againe, but in honeſt, ciuill, godly company for this tricke: if I be drunke, Ile be drunke with thoſe that haue the feare of God, and not with drunken knaues.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
  • VVell, make your mirth, the whilſt I bear my miſery: / Honeſt minds vvould have better thoughts.1633 May 21 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, [James Shirley], The Night-Walker, or The Little Thief. A Comedy, […]...
  • And thus with lame pretences they revive / Thoſe Lines when Dead, he bluſh'd at whilſt alive: / As if Mankind could not diſcern their Evil, / Without a naked Viſion of the Devil.1703, [Daniel Defoe], More Reformation. A Satyr upon Himself. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 12:

All 40 example sentences with whilst

Synonyms of whilst

All synonyms of whilst

Forms of whilst

alternative form (obsolete)whilest
alternative form (obsolete)whylst
alternative form (obsolete)whylest

Origin of whilst

From Late Middle English whilst, whilest, qwhilste (Northern England), quilest (Northwest Midlands) [and other forms], from whiles (“during the time that, while; only so long as; provided that; because, since; until”) + -t (excrescent suffix, perhaps due to a combination of -(e)s and the following word the, or influenced by the superlative suffix -est). Whiles is derived from whiles (“period of time, a while”, noun) (probably from the second element of adverbs and conjunctions like otherwhiles and somewhiles), from while (“period of time, a while”, noun) + -s (suffix forming adverbs of manner, space, and time); and while is from Old English hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, a while; period of rest, break, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”). The English word can be analysed as whiles + -t (excrescent suffix appended to words suffixed with -s). cognates * West Frisian wylst (“whilst”)

Questions about whilst

What does whilst mean?
Whilst means often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.
What is whilst in Urdu?
Whilst in Urdu is تا (tā). See Whilst meaning in Urdu.
How do you use whilst in a sentence?
What money have I bought with me? […] even but a small sum; something in hand the whilst.
What part of speech is whilst?
Whilst can be an adverb or a conjunction.
How do you pronounce whilst?
Whilst is pronounced /waɪlst/ (UK).

Words near whilst in the dictionary

  1. whillying
  2. whillywha
  3. whillywhas
  4. whilom
  5. whilome
  6. whilst
  7. whim
  8. WHIM syndrome
  9. whim-wham
  10. whim-wham for a goose's bridle
  11. whim-whams

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whilst (page history and authors); تا (Urdu) (page history and authors); whilst (Bengali 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)-Back ache-whilst.wav.

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