different between enough vs while

English

Alternative forms

• enow
• anough (obsolete)
• aneuch, eneuch, eneugh (Scotland)
• 'nough
• enuff

Etymology

From Middle English ynogh, from Old English ?en?g (“enough”), from Proto-Germanic *gan?gaz (“enough”) (compare Scots eneuch, West Frisian genôch, Dutch genoeg, German genug, Low German noog, Danish nok, Swedish nog, Icelandic nógur), from *ganugan? 'to suffice' (compare Old English ?eneah), or from *ga- + an unattested *n?gaz, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?eh?nó(n)?e (“he has reached, attained”), perfective of *h?ne?- (“to reach”) (compare Old Irish tánaic (“he arrived”), Latin nancisci (“to get”), Lithuanian nèšti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to please, satisfy”), Ancient Greek ???????? (enenkeîn, “to carry”).).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n?f/, /i?n?f/, /??n?f/
• Rhymes: -?f
• Hyphenation: e?nough

Determiner

enough

1. Sufficient; all that is required, needed, or appropriate.

   • How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare!

Derived terms

• enoughness

Translations

Adverb

enough

1. Sufficiently.

   You've worked enough; rest for a bit.
2. Fully; quite; used after adjectives to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very.
   • “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons?! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

3. Used after certain adverbs to emphasise that a quality is notable, unexpected, etc.

   Talking of Mr Smith, funnily enough, I saw him just the other day.

   I left my camera on the train, but luckily enough someone handed it in to lost property.

Usage notes

• As an adverb, in modern English, enough almost always follows the verb, adjective or adverb that it qualifies. In older language, cases where it precedes the modified word, e.g. "He was enough satisfied" or "I was not enough recompensed", may be seen.

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

Pronoun

enough

1. A sufficient or adequate number, amount, etc.

   I have enough (of it) to keep me going.

   Enough of you are here to begin the class.

   Get some more plates. There aren’t enough yet.

   Not enough is known yet about the causes of the pandemic.

Translations

Interjection

enough!

1. Stop! Don't do that any more!

   I'm sick of you complaining! Enough!

Translations

Noun

enough (plural enoughs)

1. (rare, chiefly in the plural) An instance of being sufficient, or of doing something sufficiently.
   • 1909, Edwin Balmer, Waylaid by Wireless: A Suspicion, a Warning, a Sporting Proposition, and a Transatlantic Pursuit, page 29:

     And she was neither beautiful nor handsome, but just at the point halfway between which a girl of twenty-three reaches who inherits good features and healthful figure, and who has learned to dance well, ride well, study enough, golf enough, and has attained the thousand other "well and enoughs" which include talking well and listening enough, and allow a woman to be liked and loved with so little consciousness that she never suspects she is particularly liked at all.

English

Etymology

From Old English hw?l, from Proto-West Germanic *hw?lu, from Proto-Germanic *hw?l? (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile), from Proto-Indo-European *k?yeh?- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit ??? (cirá), Persian ???? (š?d).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?l/, /wa?l/
• (in accents without the "wine-whine" merger)
• (in accents with the "wine-whine" merger)
• Rhymes: -a?l

Noun

while (plural whiles)

1. An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

   It’s a long while since anyone lived there, so it’s a ruin now.

Synonyms

• spell; see also Thesaurus:uncertain period

Related terms

• in a while
• once in a while
• while loop

Translations

Conjunction

while

1. During the same time that.
   • 1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 25,

     While De Anza was exploring the Bay of San Francisco, seeking a site for the presidio, the American colonists on the eastern seaboard, three thousand miles away, were celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
2. Although.
   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, "London Is Special, but Not That Special," New York Times (retrieved 28 September 2013):

     While Britain’s recession has been deep and unforgiving, in London it has been relatively shallow.

3. (Northern England, Scotland) Until.

4. As long as.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement, while you take care not to load it to excess.

5. (media, public policy) Used to denote an individual experiencing racial profiling when performing a seemingly benign activity.

Usage notes

• See whilst.

Synonyms

• (during the same time that): whilst; see also Thesaurus:while
• (although): as much as; see also Thesaurus:even though
• (until): till; see also Thesaurus:until
• (as long as): provided that, providing, so long as

Translations

Preposition

while

1. (Northern England, Scotland) Until.

   • I may be conveyed into your chamber; I'll lie under your bed while midnight.

Verb

while (third-person singular simple present whiles, present participle whiling, simple past and past participle whiled)

1. (transitive) to while away the time / hours; to pass (time) idly

   Synonyms: idle, laze, lounge
2. To loiter.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spectator to this entry?)

   Synonyms: hang around, linger

3. (transitive) To occupy or entertain (someone) in order to let time pass.

Synonyms

• (loiter): see also Thesaurus:loiter

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations