Whilst vs. While | whilst vs while
Manywritersthinkthatwhilstisjustafancywaytosaywhile.They’renotexactlywrong—butthey’renotexactlyright,either.Sometimeswhilstisanicewaytodressupasentence,butinothersituations,youcanreallyonlyusewhile.Italldependsonwhereyouliveandhowyouareusingthewordinasentence.Ifyou’reusedtospeakingorreadinginBritishEnglish[1](oryou’reanAmericanwholovestheBritishdialect),thewordwhilst,pronounced“WHY-ullst,”isaperfectlynaturalsubstituteforwhile.Andthat’strue—whenyou’reusingwhilstasaconjunction[2]thatlinkstwopa...
Many writers think that whilst is just a fancy way to say while. They’re not exactly wrong — but they’re not exactly right, either. Sometimes whilst is a nice way to dress up a sentence, but in other situations, you can really only use while. It all depends on where you live and how you are using the word in a sentence.
If you’re used to speaking or reading in British English[1] (or you’re an American who loves the British dialect), the word whilst, pronounced “WHY-ullst,” is a perfectly natural substitute for while. And that’s true — when you’re using whilst as a conjunction[2] that links two parts of a sentence, or an adverb[3] that modifies a word or phrase. For example:
Terry read a book while she waited for Jen. (correct conjunction) Terry read a book whilst she waited for Jen. (correct substitution) While Stephanie was doing the dishes, her brother broke the couch. (correct adverb) Whilst Stephanie was doing the dishes, her brother broke the couch. (correct substi...