meaning - Difference: Meanwhile vs meantime



Meanwhile vs. meantime



Are they really the same? I've been using them interchangeably...



Answer



The dictionary will tell you that they are synonymous; I will tell you that "meanwhile" is more common than "meantime", unless you say "in the meantime".



I would use "meanwhile", but "in the meantime" is a close second, with "meantime" dead last, in my opinion. (As you can see, "meantime" used to be as popular as "in the meantime", but now, it occurs more than ten times less.)


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