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• or
  or

  conjunction

  (used to connect words, phrases, or clauses representing alternatives).
• OR
  OR

  noun

  a Boolean operator that returns a positive result when either or both operands are positive.
• -or
  -or

  a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, directly or through Anglo-French, usually denoting a condition or property of things or persons (ardor; honor; horror; liquor; pallor; squalor; torpor; tremor ), sometimes corresponding to qualitative adjectives ending in -id4 (horrid; pallid; squalid; torpid ). A few other words that originally ended in different suffixes have been assimilated to this group (behavior; demeanor; glamour ).
• O.R.
  O.R.

  abbreviation

  owner's risk.

or

¹ American  

[awr, er] / ɔr, ər /

conjunction

1. (used to connect words, phrases, or clauses representing alternatives).

   books or magazines; to be or not to be.

2. (used to connect alternative terms for the same thing).

   the Hawaiian, or Sandwich, Islands.

3. (used in correlation).

   either … or; or … or; whether … or.

4. (used to correct or rephrase what was previously said).

   His autobiography, or rather memoirs, will soon be ready for publication.

5. otherwise; or else.

   Be here on time, or we'll leave without you.

6. Logic. the connective used in disjunction.

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or ² American  

[awr] / ɔr /

preposition

Chiefly Irish, Scot., and English.

1. before; ere.

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or ³ American  

[awr] / ɔr /

noun

1. the tincture, or metal, gold: represented either by gold or by yellow.

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adjective

1. of the tincture, or metal, gold.

   a lion or.

OR ⁴ American  

[awr] / ɔr /

noun

1. a Boolean operator that returns a positive result when either or both operands are positive.

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OR ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Law. on (one's own) recognizance.

2. operating room.

3. operations research.

4. Oregon (approved especially for use with zip code).

5. owner's risk.

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-or ⁶ American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, directly or through Anglo-French, usually denoting a condition or property of things or persons (ardor; honor; horror; liquor; pallor; squalor; torpor; tremor ), sometimes corresponding to qualitative adjectives ending in -id4 (horrid; pallid; squalid; torpid ). A few other words that originally ended in different suffixes have been assimilated to this group (behavior; demeanor; glamour ).

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-or ⁷ American  

1. a suffix forming animate or inanimate agent nouns, occurring originally in loanwords from Anglo-French (debtor; lessor; tailor; traitor ); it now functions in English as an orthographic variant of -er, usually joined to bases of Latin origin, in imitation of borrowed Latin words containing the suffix -tor (and its alternant-sor ). The association with Latinate vocabulary may impart a learned look to the resultant formations, which often denote machines or other less tangible entities which behave in an agentlike way: descriptor; plexor; projector; repressor; sensor; tractor .

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O.R. ⁸ American  

abbreviation

1. owner's risk.

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or ¹ British  

/ ə, ɔː /

conjunction

1. used to join alternatives

   apples or pears

   apples or pears or cheese

   apples, pears, or cheese

2. used to join rephrasings of the same thing

   to serve in the army, or rather to fight in the army

   twelve, or a dozen

3. used to join two alternatives when the first is preceded by either or whether

   whether it rains or not we'll be there

   either yes or no

4. a few

5. See else

6. a poetic word for either or whether as the first element in correlatives, with or also preceding the second alternative

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OR ² British  

abbreviation

1. operations research

2. Oregon

3. military other ranks

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-or ³ British  

suffix

1. indicating state, condition, or activity

   terror

   error

2. the US spelling of -our

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or ⁴ British  

/ ɔː /

conjunction

1. (subordinating; foll by ever or ere) before; when

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preposition

1. before

-or ⁵ British  

suffix

1. a person or thing that does what is expressed by the verb

   actor

   conductor

   generator

   sailor

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or ⁶ British  

/ ɔː /

adjective

1. (usually postpositive) heraldry of the metal gold

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Spelling

While the -or spelling of the suffix -or1 is characteristic of American English, there are occasional exceptions, as in advertising copy, where spellings such as colour and favour seek to suggest the allure and exclusiveness of a product. The spelling glamour is somewhat more common than glamor —not actually an instance of -or1, but conformed to it orthographically in the course of the word's history. In British English -our is still the spelling in most widespread use, -or being commonly retained when certain suffixes are added, as in color ation, honor ary, honor ific, labor ious, odor iferous. The English of the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) tends to mirror British practice, whereas Canadian English shares with the U.S. a preference for -or but with -our spellings as freely used variants. The suffix -or2 is now spelled -or in all forms of English, with the exception of the word savior, often spelled saviour in the U.S. as well as in Britain, especially with reference to Jesus.

Usage

See and/or, either.

Etymology

Origin of or¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English, originally the second, unstressed member of correlative other … or, earlier other … other, Old English āther … oththe, ā-hwæther … oththe, for oththe … oththe either … or; cf. ay ¹, whether

Origin of or²

First recorded before 950; Middle English er, ar, or, Old English ār “before, soon, early”; cognate with Old Norse ār “early, anciently, of yore,” Gothic air “soon, early”; compare Old English ǣr “before, soon”; see ere

Origin of or³

First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin aurum “gold”

Origin of OR⁴

1940–45

Origin of -or⁶

From Latin; in some cases continuing Middle English -our, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin -ōr-, stem of -or, earlier -os

Origin of -or⁷

Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French -o ( u ) r < Latin -ōr-, stem of -or, extracted from -tōr -tor by construing the t as the ending of the past participle (hence Latin factor maker, equivalent to fac ( ere ) to make + -tor, was analyzed as fact ( us ), past participle of facere + -or ); merged with Anglo-French, Old French -ëo ( u ) r < Latin -ātōr- -ator; cf. -eur

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

or OR -or O.R.

In an interview, Gaspar said the City Council could benefit from his business experience to counter members whose backgrounds are mostly in public policy or community organizing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

The same grin can look menacing or jovial, depending on how Thatcher contorts the rest of her features.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

Imagine Clarke saying: "Call me Stevo or Clarkey, if you wish."

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

"We more or less went voluntarily," the former careworker, 63, told AFP at a community centre kitted out with stretcher beds for a handful of evacuees, including herself and husband Ulrich.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

There is no evidence of her past life as a spy, wife, mother, or leprosy patient.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

This happened in Minneapolis on opening night, this happened in Los Angeles, in Portland, OR, in Atlanta, in New York City, in Chicago.

From Salon ● May 28, 2026

Shares in L’Oreal OR 8.34%increase; green up pointing triangle surged after sales recovered from a period of slow growth despite difficult market conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

“We built the OR room first. It was this new drama that was never gonna last — and now it’s one of the biggest dramas in the world. And it’s changed my life.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025

Johannesburg's international airport, once known as Jan Smuts – honouring a former prime minister – is now called OR Tambo, after the anti-apartheid leader and former president of the ANC.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2025

The OR doors swing open, and Dr. Hamid comes through with a small entourage of surgeons.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

Ms Worrall redirects patients who come into the emergency department, sending them to a pharmacy or the GP if it is the most appropriate place -or to other areas within the hospital.

From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2023

"The West needs countries with which they can build supply chains that are not politically contentious and Latin America -or much of the region at least- has a historic closeness with the West," he said.

From Reuters ● Sep. 7, 2023

The fact that they have also been scrubbed from the site possibly indicates the level of caution being used -or simply that whole sections of Afghan-related material were hastily deleted in large batches.

From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2021

Greater conflict seems inevitable but which side will triumph -or even if there will be anything like a decisive victory and a new settlement - isn't clear.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2015

Several more hours of walking -or should I say crashing -through the woods to reach an area we'll just have to leave in the morning to hunt.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

A juror in the trial of A.I. author O.R.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2023

Right, just like the time you made everyone walk backward around the O.R. to ward off bad luck.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2023

Jeremiah Watkins — I was on stage in the O.R. and there were like, eight audience members.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2022

International check-in counters stand empty after several airlines stopped flying out of South Africa because of the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, at O.R.

From Reuters ● Dec. 6, 2021

Several biographies have already been published, and that written by the late Reverend R. L. Dabney, D.D., sometime Major in the Confederate army, and Jackson’s 1  Referred to in the text as O.R.

From Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War by G. F. R. Henderson