Does “pass the time” and “kill the time” have the same meaning?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Great question. Both "pass the time" and "kill time" are idioms meaning to do something while you wait for a specific time or event. However the meanings of the two phrases are not precisely the same. There are many cases where you could use either without much practical difference, and in such cases you can use whichever. The nuance is pretty different, however. "Killing time" suggests that the activity you use to "kill time" isn't particularly worth doing, you're just wasting time. Whereas doing something to "pass the time" carries that idea of wasting time less strongly. If one is "killing time", there's a suggestion that you're not happy having to do so, and you wouldn't probably do this if you weren't waiting. Overall, there's more of a suggestion of irritation and pointlessness to "killing time" than "passing the time". Also note that it is always "killing time" never "killing the time". Ex: I often read a book or watch TV to pass the time. Ex: I was only reading this magazine to kill time while I wait for my mom.
