all the while
Americanidiom
Etymology
Origin of all the while
First recorded in 1350–1400
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Each process, of course, also takes time, during which developers pay additional holding costs on predevelopment loans, all the while inflation pushes up the cost of materials and wages.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
Across two hours, Buckley’s Bride shoots, kicks, contorts, dances, scrapes, whizzes, licks and screams, all the while coming no closer to her true self than she was at the start of the film.
From Salon • Mar. 8, 2026
He turned into a sneering moral philosopher, all the while keeping his feet up.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
Government borrowing costs have been rising all the while.
From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025
Vic gives her the slightest nod, all the while grinning as if his teeth were on review.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
