while – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to while
Participle: whiled
Gerund: whiling

Cognates

See the 4 cognates of while

Indicative

Present

I	while
you	while
he;she;it	whiles
we	while
you	while
they	while

Perfect

I	have whiled
you	have whiled
he;she;it	has whiled
we	have whiled
you	have whiled
they	have whiled

Past

I	whiled
you	whiled
he;she;it	whiled
we	whiled
you	whiled
they	whiled

Pluperfect

I	had whiled
you	had whiled
he;she;it	had whiled
we	had whiled
you	had whiled
they	had whiled

Future

I	will while
you	will while
he;she;it	will while
we	will while
you	will while
they	will while

Future Perfect

I	will have whiled
you	will have whiled
he;she;it	will have whiled
we	will have whiled
you	will have whiled
they	will have whiled

Subjunctive

Present

I	while
you	while
he;she;it	while
we	while
you	while
they	while

Perfect

I	have whiled
you	have whiled
he;she;it	have whiled
we	have whiled
you	have whiled
they	have whiled

Imperfect

I	whiled
you	whiled
he;she;it	whiled
we	whiled
you	whiled
they	whiled

Pluperfect

I	had whiled
you	had whiled
he;she;it	had whiled
we	had whiled
you	had whiled
they	had whiled

Conditional

Present

I	would while
you	would while
he;she;it	would while
we	would while
you	would while
they	would while

Perfect

I	would have whiled
you	would have whiled
he;she;it	would have whiled
we	would have whiled
you	would have whiled
they	would have whiled

Imperative

you	while
we	Let's while
you	while

Indicative

Present

I	am whiling
you	are whiling
he;she;it	is whiling
we	are whiling
you	are whiling
they	are whiling

Perfect

I	have been whiling
you	have been whiling
he;she;it	has been whiling
we	have been whiling
you	have been whiling
they	have been whiling

Past

I	was whiling
you	were whiling
he;she;it	was whiling
we	were whiling
you	were whiling
they	were whiling

Pluperfect

I	had been whiling
you	had been whiling
he;she;it	had been whiling
we	had been whiling
you	had been whiling
they	had been whiling

Future

I	will be whiling
you	will be whiling
he;she;it	will be whiling
we	will be whiling
you	will be whiling
they	will be whiling

Future Perfect

I	will have been whiling
you	will have been whiling
he;she;it	will have been whiling
we	will have been whiling
you	will have been whiling
they	will have been whiling

Conditional

Present

I	would be whiling
you	would be whiling
he;she;it	would be whiling
we	would be whiling
you	would be whiling
they	would be whiling

Perfect

I	would have been whiling
you	would have been whiling
he;she;it	would have been whiling
we	would have been whiling
you	would have been whiling
they	would have been whiling

Verbs conjugated like 'while'

abacinate, abalienate, abase, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, abduce, aberrate, aberuncate, abirritate, abjudge, abjudicate, abjugate, abjure, ablactate, ablaqueate, able, ablegate, abligate, abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)

Verbs similar to 'while'

hile, waile, whale, whine, white, wile, avile, bile, chide, child,

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

loiter: loiter
to be idle: arse about, arse around, bludge, bum around, cabbage, clown around, dawdle, dick about, dick around, dilly-dally, drumble, faff, faff about, faff around, fanny about, fanny around, fart about, fart around, fiddle about, fiddle around, fool about, fool around, footle, goof around, goof off, hang about, hang around, hang out, horse around, idle, jerk off, lallygag, laze, laze about, laze around, linger, loaf, loaf about, loaf around, loiter, lollygag, mess around, mill about, mill around, muck about, muck around, tarry, waste time
wile: beguile, fleet

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. O.E. hwile, acc. of hwil "a space of time," from P.Gmc. *khwilo (cf. O.S. hwil, O.Fris. hwile, O.H.G. hwila, Ger. Weile, Goth. hveila "space of time, while"), originally "rest" (cf. O.N. hvila "bed," hvild "rest"), from PIE *qwi- "rest" (cf. Avestan shaitish "joy," O.Pers. šiyatish "joy," L. quies "rest, repose, quiet," O.C.S. po-koji "rest"). Notion of "period of rest" became in Gmc. "period of time." M.E. sense of "time spent in doing something" now only preserved in worthwhile. As a conjunction (late O.E.), it represents O.E. þa hwile þe. The verb meaning "to pass (the time)" is attested from 1635, from the adverb.
2. From Middle English whyle, from Old English hwīl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvile (“rest”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvila (“rest”), Swedish vila (“rest”), Faroese and Icelandic hvíla (“rest”)) from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर (cirá), Persian شاد (šâd). See: Norwegian, nynorsk 'kvila', Swedish 'vila'.

Verbs referencing "while"

Danish hvile.

Sample Sentences

I whiled away the hours whilst waiting for him to arrive
Some were whiling the time by admiring the figures on the cloth of tissue. [1839, Robert Folkestone Williams, The Youth of Shakespeare, page 184:]
Here in seclusion, as a widow may, / The lovely lady whiled the hours away, […] [1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Student’s Tale. The Falcon of Ser Federigo.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 35:]
As if she was just whiling her time with them until his arrival. [2018, Shukla Lal, Floating Logs:]
They whiled them with such answere as suted to their purposes, and long adoe was made in weaving and unweaving Penelopes web, till the Spanish Armada was upon the Coast, and the very Ordnance proclaimed in their eares a surcease from further illusions. [1588, Samuel Purchas, Hakluytus Posthumus or, Purchas his Pilgrimes:]
He sat her on the corner of the carpenter's bench, and parried or diverted her questions about her father, and the desirability of wakening him by handing her the long curled shavings; and when these palled, he whiled her on by the impossible task of teaching him her version of the 'Three Golden Balls' a blank-verse poem, but rhythmically intoned, which he had taught her. [1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 130:]
In other worlds I whiled me now Through many a dark night long. [2010, Dr Rudolf Steiner, Truth-Wrought-Words:]
Like a good father, he whiled him with stories about the past of his nation and discussed in detail the intricacies of his profession, teaching the child secrets of the craft that had been passed from generation to generation. [2018, Michael Joyce, Yada:]
The tedious hours whiled slowly on, 'till the succeeding afternoon, when the expected carriage made its appearance much sooner than they had promised themselves. [1764, Mrs. Gunning (Susannah), Family Pictures, a Novel. Containing Curious and Interesting Memoirs of Several Persons of Fashion in W-----re, page 115:]
Years whiled. He aged, sank, sickened; and was not: / And it was said, 'A man intractable / And curst is gone.' [1901, Thomas Hardy, “A Man”, in Poems of the Past and the Present:]

while – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of while

Nominal Forms

Cognates

Indicative

Present

Perfect

Past

Pluperfect

Future

Future Perfect

Subjunctive

Present

Perfect

Imperfect

Pluperfect

Conditional

Present

Perfect

Imperative

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Perfect

Past

Pluperfect

Future

Future Perfect

Conditional

Present

Perfect

Other

Verbs conjugated like 'while'

Verbs similar to 'while'

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

Verbs referencing "while"

Sample Sentences