else

[ els ]

adjective

1. other than the persons or things mentioned or implied:

   What else could I have done?

2. in addition to the persons or things mentioned or implied:

   Who else was there?

3. other or in addition (used in the possessive following an indefinite pronoun):

   someone else's money.

adverb

1. if not (usually preceded by or ):

   It's a macaw, or else I don't know birds.

2. in some other way; otherwise:

   How else could I have acted?

3. at some other place or time:

   Where else might I find this book?

else

/ ɛls /

determiner

1. in addition; more

   there is nobody else here

2. other; different

   where else could he be?

adverb

1. or else
   1. if not, then

      go away or else I won't finish my work today

   2. or something terrible will result: used as a threat

      sit down, or else!

Grammar Note

The possessive forms of somebody else, everybody else, etc., are somebody else's, everybody else's, the forms somebody's else, everybody's else being considered nonstandard in present-day English. One exception is the possessive for who else, which is occasionally formed as whose else when a noun does not immediately follow: Is this book yours? Whose else could it be? No, it's somebody else's.

Word History and Origins

Origin of else¹

before 1000; Middle English, Old English elles (cognate with Old High German elles ), equivalent to ell- other (cognate with Gothic aljis, Latin alius, Old Irish aile Greek állos, Armenian ayl other; eldritch ) + -es -s 1

Word History and Origins

Origin of else¹

Old English elles, genitive of el- strange, foreign; related to Old High German eli- other, Gothic alja, Latin alius, Greek allos

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. or else, or suffer the consequences:

   Do what I say, or else.

More idioms and phrases containing else

see in someone's (else's) shoes ; or else ; something else ; something else again .

Example Sentences

Anything else would lead to internal conflict as many would view it as a betrayal.

From BBC

It is a remnant of a national atrocity that should not be tolerated in prisons or anywhere else.

From Los Angeles Times

“Don’t,” blurted her mother, Rebecca Marriott, who laughed along with everyone else, but kept sneaking anxious peeks at her watch.

From Los Angeles Times

She’d already ordered her vases online, and she wasn’t willing to spend the thousands of dollars she’d been quoted to have someone else prepare all the flowers for the wedding and reception with 28 guests.

From Los Angeles Times

“I want to be a dad but still work and service everybody else and help people make a great show so that everybody else can be happy,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times