Until Meaning
/ʌnˈtɪl/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
prepUp to the time of (something happening); pending.
prepUp to (a certain place)
Sentence Examples
Class doesn't begin until eight-thirty.
Everything is theoretically impossible until it's done.
Let's wait until the rain stops.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She waited patiently ____ her friend arrived, then they left together.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We will have to wait ____ the manager arrives before we can make a final decision about the new project today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English vntil, until, untill, ontil, ontill, perhaps representing a northern variant of Middle English unto (see Modern English unto). By surface analysis, un- (“against; toward; up to”) + till.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures."
— 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
"I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion.""
— 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
"He rousd himselfe full blith, and hastned them untill."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4:
"It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street.[…]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts."
— 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She waited patiently ____ her friend arrived, then they left together.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We will have to wait ____ the manager arrives before we can make a final decision about the new project today.