: the time before something happens or before a specified period ends
The new computers won't arrive until next week, but we can continue to use the old ones in the meantime.
: meanwhile entry 2
meantime he had been attentive to his other interests—
H. R. Warfel
H. R. Warfel
: time that is based on the motion of the theoretical mean sun
To find local mean time, determine how many degrees of longitude you are from your time-zone standard. (Find your longitude on a map.) Multiply this number by four to get your correction in minutes. If you are east of the standard longitude your correction is a positive number; if you are west it is negative. Apply the correction to standard time to get your local mean time.—Sky & Telescope
Sky & Telescopecalled also mean solar time
Examples of meantime in a Sentence
Adverb
He can come back to work when he's feeling better. Meantime, he should be resting as much as possible.
Recent Examples on the Web
Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 6 Feb. 2024
But red tape means that builders are unlikely to start on site for at least another year and joint venture landlords Ballymore and Hammerson, plus the local civic authorities are all supportive of Boxpark continuing to trade in the meantime.
—Mark Faithfull, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Jennifer Weil, WWD, 17 Dec. 2024
The boat, meantime, features a water slide, kitchen, platform and rotating sail.
—Tim Chan, Variety, 27 Nov. 2024
Thomas Coughlin, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024
The mean time to patch, commonly referred to as MTTP, is variable across organizations.
—Austin Gadient, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for meantime 
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Noun
The Spartans’ vaunted blue line kept the puck out of their zone in the meantime, leading to a long stretch of scoreless hockey.
—Tom Mulherin, Boston Herald, 6 Feb. 2024
But red tape means that builders are unlikely to start on site for at least another year and joint venture landlords Ballymore and Hammerson, plus the local civic authorities are all supportive of Boxpark continuing to trade in the meantime.
—Mark Faithfull, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2024
Adverb
The namesake makeup artist meantime has maintained a minority share in her color cosmetics and skin care brand.
—Jennifer Weil, WWD, 17 Dec. 2024
The boat, meantime, features a water slide, kitchen, platform and rotating sail.
—Tim Chan, Variety, 27 Nov. 2024
Noun
These have a five-year limited warranty and are projected to support up to 2.5M hours MTBF, mean time between failures.
—Thomas Coughlin, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024
The mean time to patch, commonly referred to as MTTP, is variable across organizations.
—Austin Gadient, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for meantime
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Dictionary Entries Near meantime
Cite this Entry
“Meantime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meantime. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
meantime
1 of 2 noun
mean·time
ˈmēn-ˌtīm 
: the time between two events
meantime
2 of 2 adverb
: in the meantime
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