or else

else  (ls)

adj.

1. Other; different: Ask somebody else.

2. Additional; more: Would you like anything else?

adv.

1. In a different or additional time, place, or manner: I always do it this way and I don't know how else it could be done. Where else do you want to go besides Miami?

2. If not; otherwise: Be careful, or else you will make a mess.

Idiom:

or else

Regardless of any extenuating circumstances: Be there on time or else!

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[Middle English elles, from Old English; see al-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: Else is often used redundantly in combination with prepositions such as but, except, and besides. The sentence No one else but Sam saw the accident would thus be better without else. · When a pronoun is followed by else, the possessive form is generally written with the 's following else: That must be someone else's (not someone's else) book. Both who else's and whose else are in use, but not whose else's: Who else's book could it have been? Whose else could it have been? See Usage Notes at who, whose.

Thesaurus

Adv.

1.

or else - in place of, or as an alternative to; "Felix became a herpetologist instead"; "alternatively we could buy a used car" alternatively, instead