meantime

The word “meantime” means the period of time between two events. In plain terms, the time between two things happening, or "during that time" used as an adverb.

“Meantime” is pronounced MEEN-tym (/ˈmiːntaɪm/ in IPA).

Here is “meantime” used in a sentence: “The renovation will take a month; in the meantime, we're staying with relatives.”

Depending on how it is used, “meantime” can be a noun and an adverb.

The word “meantime” comes from Middle English. From Middle English menetime, a compound of mean ("intermediate") and time; the adverb comes from the phrase "in the meantime".

“Meantime” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Meantime” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: the period of time between two events.

Both refer to the period between two events, but they behave differently. Meantime is most often a noun in the phrase 'in the meantime,' while meanwhile usually stands alone as an adverb: 'Meanwhile, the guests waited.' Meantime can also be used alone as an adverb, but that use is less common.

Modern English writes it as one word: in the meantime. The word began as the two-word phrase 'mean time,' but that spacing now survives mainly in the unrelated technical phrase 'Greenwich Mean Time,' where mean means 'average.'

Yes, in its adverb use: 'Meantime, work on the bridge continued.' Many writers prefer 'Meanwhile' or 'In the meantime' at the start of a sentence, but bare 'Meantime' is also correct and is especially common in journalism.