English

Conjunction

all the while

1. At the same time as, usually over an extended period.

Usage notes

Frequently used to indicate that deception was occurring during the period at issue:

• 1889, Leslie Stephen, Dictionary of National Biography, p. 82:

  The good fortune which attended him throughout life may have been partly owing to this cause as well as to his undoubted valour, for though he never lost a battle, nothing is more astounding than his imprudence and the easy confidence with which he trusted Somerset, Warwick, Montague, and others, all the while they were betraying him.

• 1891, Plutarchus, Plutarch's Lives, p. 8:

  Sulla, encamped near Scipio, and amusing him with caresses under pretence of an approaching peace, was all the while corrupting his troops.

• 1986, Michael Dibdin, A Rich Full Death, p. 60:

  And all with that vital piece of evidence burning a hole in his pocket the while!

• 1991, Anne Rice, The Witching Hour, p. 281:

  All the while, my intention was to amuse her, and divert her out of her hellish thoughts, and show to her the wide world of which she could now be a part.