Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableTemporarily; for now; until later; until the situation changes; in an indefinite period of time.
I think I will ignore the problem for the time being.
3 more examples
Whenever these outlets are silted up or otherwise closed, what at other times is a plain becomes converted for the time being into a lake.
1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 163And so, unfortunately, this great and spreading network of railways, that recently showed such promise as a major instrument in the modern development of China, must be left for the time being in the melting-pot of Armageddon.
1941 October, F. S. Bond, “The Railways of China”, in Railway Magazine, page 440Neither Aracil nor his five friends have the money to pay for the costs of the demolition, which, they say, are punitively over-inflated. For the time being, their hopes rest on legal appeals, and should those fail, on a crowdfunding campaign.
2022 September 24, Sam Jones, “Ill-fated Spanish village poised to be destroyed a third time”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: for the time, for time, pro tem
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbTemporarily; for now; until later; until the situation changes; in an indefinite period of time.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbtemporarily
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Catalan de moment, ara per ara
- de momenttemporarily; until later
- ara per aratemporarily; until later
Chinese Mandarin 就目前而言, 暫時 /暂时
- 就目前而言 (jiù mùqián éryán)temporarily; until later
- 暫時 /暂时 (zànshí)temporarily; until later
- 權時 /权时 (quánshí)temporarily; until later
- 權且 /权且 (quánqiě)temporarily; until later
- 姑且 (gūqiě)temporarily; until later
Czech prozatím
- prozatímtemporarily; until later
Dutch voorlopig, vooreerst
- voorlopigtemporarily; until later
- vooreersttemporarily; until later
Estonian ajutiselt
- ajutiselttemporarily; until later
Finnish toistaiseksi, tällä erää
- toistaiseksitemporarily; until later
- tällä eräätemporarily; until later
- tältä eräätemporarily; until later
French pour le moment, pour l'instant
- pour le momenttemporarily; until later
- pour l'instanttemporarily; until later
German fürs Erste, vorerst
- fürs Erstetemporarily; until later
- vorersttemporarily; until later
- einstweilentemporarily; until later
- vorläufigtemporarily; until later
- zunächst einmaltemporarily; until later
- bis auf Weiterestemporarily; until later
Greek προς το παρόν, για τώρα
- προς το παρόν (pros to parón)temporarily; until later
- για τώρα (gia tóra)temporarily; until later
- για την ώρα (gia tin óra)temporarily; until later
Hungarian egyelőre, pillanatnyilag
- egyelőretemporarily; until later
- pillanatnyilagtemporarily; until later
- per pillanattemporarily; until later
Icelandic í þetta sinn
- í þetta sinntemporarily; until later
Italian per il momento
- per il momentotemporarily; until later
Japanese 当分の間, 差し当たり
- 当分の間 (tōbun-no aida)temporarily; until later
- 差し当たり (sashiatari)temporarily; until later
- 取りあえず (toriaezu)temporarily; until later
Polish na razie, chwilowo
- na razietemporarily; until later
- chwilowotemporarily; until later
- póki cotemporarily; until later
Portuguese por enquanto
- por enquantotemporarily; until later
Romanian deocamdată, pentru moment
- deocamdatătemporarily; until later
- pentru momenttemporarily; until later
Russian пока́, пока́ что
- пока́ (poká)temporarily; until later
- пока́ что (poká što)temporarily; until later
- до поры́ до вре́мени (do porý do vrémeni)temporarily; until later
Spanish por ahora, por el momento
- por ahoratemporarily; until later
- por el momentotemporarily; until later
- por lo prontotemporarily; until later
- de momentotemporarily; until later
- hoy por hoytemporarily; until later
Swedish tills vidare, för tillfället
- tills vidaretemporarily; until later
- för tillfällettemporarily; until later
Turkish şimdilik, geçici olarak
- şimdiliktemporarily; until later
- geçici olaraktemporarily; until later
Ukrainian по́ки, нара́зі
- по́ки (póky)temporarily; until later
- нара́зі (narázi)temporarily; until later
Welsh am dro, am y tro
- am drotemporarily; until later
- am y trotemporarily; until later
Cite this entry
for the time being. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20the%20time%20being
“for the time being.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20the%20time%20being. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “for the time being,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20the%20time%20being.
Source: for the time being on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.