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.
His statement came ahead of a Friday deadline for the company to get on board with the Pentagon’s demands or else face some pretty dire consequences.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 1, 2026
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
But the companies still have to make money, Windsor said, or else “the whole proposition will grind to a halt while the market figures out the economic way forward.”
From MarketWatch • Feb. 2, 2026
“Guess my ears are going bad, or else you’re losing your marbles.”
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
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.
