for the time being
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Temporarily, until a later time
Literally: during the current period
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Let us for the time being not take a stand on this issue but address ourselves to the whole phenomenon in its strong sense.
‘ Interest rates are in the driving seat for the time being and it is still too early to buy,’ says Mr Tora.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “for the time being” mean?
Temporarily, until a later time Literally: during the current period
Is “for the time being” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.