or what

1. A phrase following a statement that adds emphasis or suggests an option. For example, in Is this a good movie or what? the phrase asks for confirmation or agreement. However, it also may ask for an alternative, as in Is this book a biography or what? In the 1700s it generally asked for a choice among a series of options, and it still has this function, as in In what does John excel? in imagination? in reasoning powers? in mathematics? or what?

Example Sentences

Too often we pay attention to the wrong things, whether it’s a local election 1,000 miles away or what some podcaster said on the internet that day.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

As 2025 comes to a close, one of the most significant stories in music, which will surely grow in importance in the coming years, is who—or what—will be singing the songs of the future.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Speaking directly to a journalist about the allegations for the first time, Farage, 61, was pressed on what he meant by "directly" and replied: "By taking it out on an individual on the basis of who they are or what they are."

Read more on BBC

I can’t tell you exactly where I am or what I’m doing, but it’s the kind of weapons-on-target stuff we learned when we first qualified as surface warfare officers together—before the Navy sent you to law school.

Read more on Slate

When you combine those types of experiences with loss and sorrow and the knowledge of what didn’t happen or what could have happened, then it makes revisiting this time bittersweet.

Read more on Los Angeles Times