awhile

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
12
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/əˈwaɪl/
See all 2 pronunciations
/əˈwaɪl/ · /əˈʍaɪl/

Definition of awhile

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

adv

  1. (not-comparable)For some time; for a short time.
    “Sit with me awhile.”
    “Take two cupfuls of rolled oats, put in bread pan, turn on four cupfuls of boiling water, stir for awhile.”
    “Engine No. 18 went off into a shed to rest awhile, and No. 7, a precisely similar one, backed on to the train in her place.”
    “I'll slip beneath these sheets and shiver here awhile / I find this happening more frequently these days”
See all 2 definitions

adv

  1. (not-comparable)For some time; for a short time.
    “Sit with me awhile.”
    “Take two cupfuls of rolled oats, put in bread pan, turn on four cupfuls of boiling water, stir for awhile.”
    “Engine No. 18 went off into a shed to rest awhile, and No. 7, a precisely similar one, backed on to the train in her place.”
    “I'll slip beneath these sheets and shiver here awhile / I find this happening more frequently these days”
  2. (US, not-comparable)In the meantime; during an implicit ongoing process.
    “Can I get you a drink awhile?”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Old English āne (“(for) a”) hwīle (“while”).

Find your best play with awhile

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes awhile, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.