Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

else

Pronunciation: /ɛls/
Translate else | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of else

adverb

  • 1 [with indefinite pronoun or adverb] in addition; besides:anything else you need to know? what else is there to do? they will offer low prices but little else
  • 2 [with indefinite pronoun or adverb] different; instead:isn’t there anyone else you could ask? they took songs owned by someone else and used them without permission they moved on to somewhere else it’s fate, destiny, or whatever else you like to call it
  • 3short for or else.keep your mouth shut, else you might contradict my story

Phrases

or else

used to introduce the second of two alternatives:he always had a cold or else was getting over an earache
in circumstances different from those mentioned:they can’t want it, or else they’d request it
used as a warning or threat:you go along with this or else you’re going to jail she’d better shape up, or else

Origin:

Old English elles, of Germanic origin; related to Middle Dutch els and Swedish eljest

else in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of else in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

enjambement

/ ɪnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt /
noun
(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause …