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While vs Where - What's the difference?

while | where |

As nouns the difference between while and where

is that while is an uncertain duration of time, a period of time while where is the place in which something happens.

As conjunctions the difference between while and where

is that while is during the same time that while where is while on the contrary; although; whereas.

As a verb while

is to pass (time) idly.

As an adverb where is

used interrogatively, in either a direct or indirect question At what place; to what place; what place.

As a pronoun where is

the place in which.

while

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
  • He lectured for quite a long while .

    Conjunction

    (wikipedia while) (English Conjunctions)
  • During the same time that.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= 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.}}
  • * 1948 , , North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States , J. B. Lippincott Company, page 25,
  • 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= 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.}}
  • Although.
  • * 2013 September 28, (Kenan Malik), " 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.
  • (Northern England, Scotland) Until.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.
  • As long as.
  • * I. Watts
  • Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to overload it.

    Verb

    (whil)
  • To pass (time) idly.
  • * Longfellow
  • The lovely lady whiled the hours away.
  • To loiter.
  • (Spectator)

    Derived terms

    * while away * meanwhile * the while

    where

    English

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • While on the contrary; although; whereas.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • And flight and die is death destroying death; / Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
  • Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • At or in which place or situation.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • To which place or situation.
  • Wherever.
  • (legal) In a position, case, etc., in which.
  • Adverb

    (-)
  • At what place; to what place; what place.
  • Where are you?
    Where are you going?
    Where did you come from?
  • In what situation.
  • Where would we be without our parents?

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • The place in which.
  • He lives within five miles of where he was born.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The place in which something happens.
  • A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where , the why and the how.
    Finding the nymph asleep in secret where . — Spenser.

    Derived terms

    * anywhere * elsewhere * everywhere * every which where * whereabouts * whereafter * whereagainst * wherealong * whereas * whereat * whereby * wherefore * wherefrom * wherein * whereinto * where it's at * whereness * wherenot * whereon * whereof * whereover * wheresoever * wherethan * wherethrough * whereto * wheretoward * whereunder * whereuntil * whereunto * whereupon * wherever * wherewith * wherewithin * wherewithal

    Statistics

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