While is a period of time. While may be used as a conjunction to mean during a certain period of time or on the other hand. While may also be used as a verb to mean to pass time in a pleasant way, related words are whiles, whiled, whiling. While comes from the Old English word hwile, which means a space of time.
Wile means cunning, a tricky or seductive ploy. Wile is usually rendered in the plural, wiles. Wile comes from the Old English word wil, meaning stratagem, trick, sly artifice.
Examples
While Mom tells Ben that Emily has always been the more “dominant twin,” she also shares that once Haley lets her guard down, she is “a thousand percent in” when it comes to relationships. (The New York Post)
While Treating Palestinian Toddler, Israeli Doctors Discover and Cure Fatal Genetic Disease (Haaretz)
Police are appealing for witnesses after a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Cheltenham while walking home from school. (The Gloucestershire Echo)
She noticed how the production team deliberately shamed the other contestants — ridiculing their artifice, their “feminine wiles” — in order to boost the reality effect of the show. (The Boston Globe)
It’s not enough for this character to project mere malevolence because Mephistopheles also has to use his wiles and oily charm to insinuate himself into the lives of these largely guileless people. (The Detroit News)
The skillfully mounted Theeb is a spaghetti Western that comes from an unlikely place — Jordan — and features an even more unlikely hero: a young Bedouin boy who must use his wiles to survive in the unforgiving desert. (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
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