or else
Idioms-
Otherwise, in different circumstances, as in Present your case now, or else you won't have a chance . [c. 1300]
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Regardless of any extenuating circumstances, no matter what, as in Be there on time or else! [Second half of 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One win must become two or else the significance of what happened at Murrayfield goes away like so many of the other victories over England.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
Still more people have been surveilled and captured in DHS databases, with federal agents in some cases holding cellphones inches from their faces to scan their features, or else taking pictures of their license plates.
From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026
The rest of the business would likely be sold to strategic buyers or else shut down, they said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
If I have to work, I have to downsize to a lower-scale job for health insurance, or else my wife will keep working.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 14, 2026
“No, honey, it isn’t. But folks have got to move on as well, or else they can just get trapped in a moment, unable to do what they must. To live.”
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
