meantime

meantime
meantime, meanwhile
1. As a solitary adverb, meantime has largely given way to meanwhile, but is still occasionally found:

• Meantime, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan —Delia Smith, 1978.

It is most often used in the phrase in the meantime, which is now normally written as three words instead of four:

• The telephone will…redial the number you last called, even if you've hung up in the meantime —Which?, 1987.

Conversely, meanwhile is most often used by itself, and only occasionally in the variant phrase in the meanwhile:

• The animals Mrs Murray cares for are always returned to the wild if possible. Meanwhile, they stay at her study centre —Times, 1986

• In the meanwhile, I'll just lie here, flat on my back, fingering my perfect bones —J. Shute, 1992.

2. In recent use, meanwhile is commonly used in journalism and (especially) broadcasting as a means of resuming a main theme after a digression or aside:

• Meanwhile, as we say in the trade, Mother well go bottom [of the League table] —television broadcast, 1987

• Meantime: food. We cannot live by bread alone, but it helps —I. Maitland, 1993.

The use may owe its origins to the catch-phrase Meanwhile, back at the ranch, used originally in captions to silent Western films and later as a voice-over in films with sound. This phrase too is common allusively in a wide range of contexts:

• Meanwhile back in the Commons, Mrs Thatcher tried to resist questions by saying the issues were sub judice —Today, 1987

• Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the transport system is in chaos, there's a full-scale law and order crisis and the NHS is a basket case —Sun, 2002.


Modern English usage. 2014.

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  • Meantime — or mean time may refer to: Contents 1 Time 2 Entertainment 3 Engineering and mechanics 4 Business Time …   Wikipedia

  • Meantime — est un film britannique réalisé en 1984 par Mike Leigh et produit pour la télévision par Central Television pour Channel 4. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Distribution 3 Récompenses et nominations …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Meantime — Mean time , Meanwhile Mean while , n. The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time). [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • meantime — ► ADVERB (also in the meantime) ▪ meanwhile …   English terms dictionary

  • meantime — [mēn′hwīl΄mēn′tīm΄] adv. 1. in or during the intervening time 2. at the same time n. the intervening time: Also, and for MEANTIME adv. now usually, meanwhile [mēn′hwīl΄] …   English World dictionary

  • Meantime — Mean time , Meanwhile Mean while , adv. In the intervening time; during the interval. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • meantime — index ad interim Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • meantime — (n.) also mean time, mid 14c., from MEAN (Cf. mean) (adj.2) middle, intermediate + TIME (Cf. time) (n.). Late 14c. as an adverb …   Etymology dictionary

  • meantime — [n/adv] in the intervening time at the same time, concurrently, for now, for the duration, for the moment, for then, interim, interregnum, interruption, interval, in the interim, in the interval, in the meanwhile, meanwhile, recess,… …   New thesaurus

  • meantime — [[t]mi͟ːntaɪm[/t]] 1) PHR with cl In the meantime or meantime means in the period of time between two events. Eventually your child will leave home to lead her own life as a fully independent adult, but in the meantime she relies on your support …   English dictionary

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