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.
The rest is believed to be under Fordow, and possibly damaged, or else at the above ground Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and likely destroyed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026
“We have to protect it or else we lose the art form.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 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
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
“But I have to put you back now, or else I’ll get in trouble,” Omakayas said.
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
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.
