# meantime

Pronunciation: say "MEEN-tym" /ˈmiːntaɪm/

## Noun

1. The time spent waiting for another event to happen; the period in between.
   - Simple: The time you spend waiting before something else happens.
   - _Construction won't finish until spring; in the meantime, traffic is being rerouted through downtown._
   - _The committee adopted temporary rules to govern for the meantime._

## Adverb

2. During the time between events; meanwhile.
   - Simple: During the time before another thing happens.
   - _The mayor has promised repairs by summer; meantime, residents keep swerving around the potholes._
   - _Investigators are still reviewing the files. Meantime, the suspect remains free on bail._

## Origin

From Middle English menetime, equivalent to "mean" combined with "time." The adverb arose by ellipsis from the phrase "in the meantime."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/meantime (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).