Collocations for while - noun

brief, little, short
fair, good, long, some
Things continued quiet for some while.

take
I'll mend it for you, but it could take a while.

after a while
After a while, I began to get bored with my job.

for a while
They chatted for a while.

for the while (BrE)
There's no need to do anything for the while.

in a while
I'll be back in a while.

all the while
The bird hopped across the lawn, keeping a sharp lookout all the while.

once in a while
Everybody makes a mistake once in a while.

(for) quite a while
He kept me waiting for quite a while.

a while back
The problems started a while back.