Before vs While - What's the difference?
before | while |
Earlier than (in time).
* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.}}
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 11, author=Rory Houston, work=RTE Sport
, title= In front of in space.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
*
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).
* (John Ayliffe) (1676-1732)
In store for, in the future of (someone).
* (Thomas Carlyle) (1795-1881)
In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.
At a higher or greater position in a ranking.
* (Bible), (w) i. 15
* (Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784)
At an earlier time.
* , chapter=12
, title= In advance.
At the front end.
* 1896 , (Hilaire Belloc), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts , :
An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
During the same time that.
* , chapter=12
, title= * 1948 , , North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States , J. B. Lippincott Company, page 25,
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Although.
* 2013 September 28, (Kenan Malik), "
(Northern England, Scotland) Until.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
As long as.
* I. Watts
To pass (time) idly.
* Longfellow
To loiter.
As conjunctions the difference between before and while
is that before is in advance of the time when while while is during the same time that.As a preposition before
is earlier than (in time).As an adverb before
is at an earlier time.As a noun while is
an uncertain duration of time, a period of time.As a verb while is
to pass (time) idly.before
English
Preposition
(English prepositions)- Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.
Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland, passage=Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.}}
- His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.
- He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.
The Evolution of Eyeglasses, passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}
- If a suit be begun before an archdeacon
- The golden ageis before us.
- He that cometh after me is preferred before me.
- The eldest son is before the younger in succession.
Synonyms
* (earlier than in time) by, no later than * (in front of in space) ahead of, in front of * (in front of according to an ordering system) ahead ofAntonyms
* (earlier than in time) after, later than * (in front of in space) behind * (in front of according to an ordering system) afterAdverb
(-)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}
- When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a (little) tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before .
Synonyms
* (at an earlier time) previously * (in advance) ahead * (at the front end) in frontAntonyms
* (at an earlier time) after * (at the front end) behindDerived terms
* beforehand * beforetimeSynonyms
* (rather than) lestReferences
* Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8while
English
Noun
(en noun)- He lectured for quite a long while .
Conjunction
(wikipedia while) (English Conjunctions)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=While the powwow was going on the big woman came back again. She was consider'ble rumpled and scratched up, but there was fire in her eye.}}
- While De Anza was exploring the Bay of San Francisco, seeking a site for the presidio, the American colonists on the eastern seaboard, three thousand miles away, were celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Fantasy of navigation, passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):
- While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.
- I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.
- Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it.
Verb
(whil)- The lovely lady whiled the hours away.
- (Spectator)
