Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • preposition Throughout the course or duration of.
  • preposition At some time in.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Duration; existence.
  • Lasting; continuing; enduring.
  • In the time of; in the course of; throughout the continuance of: as, during life; during our earthly pilgrimage; during the space of a year.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • preposition In the time of; as long as the action or existence of

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • preposition For all of a given time interval.
  • preposition At any time or period within a given time interval.
  • verb Present participle of dure.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from present participle of duren, to last, from Old French durer, from Latin dūrāre; see deuə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English during, durynge, durinde, durand, durende, present participle of Middle English duren ("to last"), equivalent to dure +‎ -ing. More at dure.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word during.

Examples

  • When those measurements were done within more years/7, during Outumn exuinoxes was cosmic ray source visible to be near Castor and Polux/constellation Gemini,..during spring equinoxes at Aldebaran-Hyades,paralaxa of X.. ,…hamops1.szm.sk,…and other over there mentioned webs Those two areas, where are cosmic rays coming from is close to plane of ecliptic!

    Must Watch: Teaser Trailer for Roland Emmerich's 2012! « FirstShowing.net 2008

  • The second session provides for the suspension of an officer during the recess, and for a temporary appointment _during the recess_.

    Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet An Autobiography. John Sherman

  • Therefore we must probably picture to ourselves that the sensation from the strip of the retina stimulated during the quick eye-movement is, _during the interval of movement or at least during the greater part of it, localized as if the axis of vision were still directed toward the original fixation-point.

    Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. Various 1889

  • What is such a state of things but a mere connection during pleasure, or, to use the phraseology of the times, _during feeling_?

    Select Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1817-1845 Daniel Webster 1817

  • Napoleon in modern, times, from enlarged and firmly consolidated the force of individual genius, or by well-guided ambition and the accidents of (54) casual persevering energy, [38] during a fortune, but has slowly advanced, long succession of ages. and (40 _a_) been firmly consolidated (15) _during a succession of ages_, from the combined influence of ambition skilfully directed and energy (15

    How to Write Clearly Rules and Exercises on English Composition Edwin A. Abbott

  • The former Massachusetts governor forcefully rejected the label during Thursday night's debate, noting that his father was born in Mexico and his father-in-law in Wales.

    www.startribune.com 2012

  • Here at the Health Blog, we're always grateful for vocabulary-building exercises and it occurred to us when Gold dropped the term during an interview it was Dendreon-speak for "really expensive cancer drugs."

    unknown title 2011

  • Meanwhile, Stephen Elop, the chief executive of Nokia, used the term during a news conference to defend the competitiveness of the company's new Lumia 900 smartphone, even though it doesn't run on the fastest quad core processors.

    NYT > Home Page By NICK WINGFIELD 2012

  • The priest is never supposed to use your name during confession.

    The Dark Side of Innocence Terri Cheney 2011

  • We have known the giant "V" of bright stars high in our S sky on August nights as the Summer Triangle since Sir Patrick Moore popularized the name during his early Sky at Night TV programmes in the 1950s.

    Starwatch: The summer triangle 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • During the ...., serves as an introductory phrase

    February 19, 2012