Basic+ Word of the Day: while

while (noun, conjuction)

She read something while she waited.

A while is a short period of time.

• Sit and talk to me for a while.

When we use while with ago, it means that something happened quite a long time in the past.

• I saw that movie, but it was a while ago.
• “Did he just arrive?” “No, he got here a while ago.”

We can also use while when we talk about two things that happen at the same time.

• I can finish my book while I wait for you.

In pop culture

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a movie about a princess who goes to live with seven dwarfs. She decides to clean their house, and she sings a song so that it’s more fun. The song says that you should whistle while you work. If you whistle, it means that you make a sound with your mouth by blowing. You can hear someone whistle in the song.

There are other meanings of while.