during

1. 1
   while (time)preposition

   At some time within, or throughout the whole of, a specified period.

   Someone knocked during the meeting.

   The best pieces were made during the sixties.

   UsageDuring goes before a noun: during the meeting. Before a clause, use while: while we were talking.

   Similarthroughout, within

   Note

   Something happens inside the period rather than across all of it: a knock, six questions asked in the course of a story, men who appear and then vanish. The same preposition can also cover the whole span, and the verb and context help tell the two readings apart. Asked, appeared and produced name events that land at points, while lived and stayed name states that fill a span. Adding at several points pulls even lived into this reading. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The story example describes questions asked during the narrator's account; the source gives approximately six. home.hiwaay.net
   • The military example describes men appearing and subsequently disappearing. govinfo.gov
2. 2
   enduringverbarchaic

   Present participle and gerund of dure, the archaic verb 'to last, endure' ('the truce during many years').

   Note

   Here is the participle the preposition was born from, spelled exactly the same. Dure, 'to last', is archaic and intransitive, so this during takes no object. It can follow its noun (his fame, during long after his death), whereas the preposition stands before one. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The preposition during developed from the present participle of dure, meaning to last. en.wiktionary.org
   • Dure meaning to last is an archaic, intransitive verb. en.wiktionary.org

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