English

Alternative forms

• whilest (obsolete)
• whylst (obsolete)
• whylest (obsolete)

Conjunction

whilst

1. (Britain, rare or literary in North America) While, at the same time.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess:

     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. […].

Usage notes

• Mostly restrained to use in British English.
• Rare in North America and may be considered archaic, pedantic or pompous.

Translations

Related terms

• while

References

• while on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• whilst in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “whilst” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).