While
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- See While loop for while loops in computing.
While and whilst are conjunctions meaning "during the time that". An example is:
- The days were hot while we were on vacation.
While and whilst can nowadays per Eric Partridge legitimately be used in the sense of although or whereas, provided that it is not ambiguous (which is not to say that some might not frown upon seeing such use):
- While I am here, I can ring home.
This sentence can mean either "As long as I am here, I can ring home", "although I am here, I can ring home", or even, in Northern dialects, "until I am here, I can ring home".
Indeed, while (but not whilst) in dialects of Northern England and Scotland usually takes the meaning of until, as in: "I shall wait while you are ready."
See also: American and British English differences