The difference between these words

Question

What is the difference between meanwhile and meantime?

Would you mind teling me the answer with examples ?

 

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Meantime and Meanwhile are synonyms. They mean approximately the same thing. 

Meantime is used most often in my experience when a person is explaining what they will be doing between set activities or while someone else is completing an activity.

 

For example  Diner is cooking. Mark in the meantime please set the table.

 

Meanwhile is more often used to describe events taking place at the same time but in different places.

 

Tony was fixing diner at home, meanwhile Mary was reading a book.

Answer 2

Hmm...the meanings of these words are actually very similar, something like "while something else is going on."

"Meanwhile" is used for example in stories, to describe a completely different plot line from the one just left.  Something like:  Dorothy and Toto and the Scarecrow started down the Yellow Brick Road.  Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the West had already spotted them and begun to gather her winged monkeys.

It often refers to something that has already happened in the past.

 

"Meantime" is almost always used with "in the" and may more often refer to something in the present or the future.  It often connotes a feeling of waiting for something to happen or be completed.  Something like:  My car was going to be in the shop for a full week, so in the meantime I made use of buses and my beat up old bicycle.

 

Hope that's helpful!