unless

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ənˈlɛs/, /ʌnˈlɛs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology

onlesse, from on lesse, from on a less condition (on became un-)

Alternative forms

• unlesse (obsolete)

Conjunction

unless

1. Except on a specified condition; if not.

   I’m leaving unless I get a pay rise.

   • 1971, Dr. Seuss, The Lorax:

     Unless someone like you...cares a whole awful lot...nothing is going to get better...It's not.

Antonyms

• (except on a condition): if

Derived terms

• precisely unless
• unlesss
• unless and until, until and unless

Translations

except on a specified condition

Arabic: الا (’illa), إلا إذا (ar) (illa idha) Bulgarian: освен ако (osven ako) Chinese: Mandarin: 除非 (cmn) (chúfēi) Croatian: osim ako (hr), ukoliko ne (hr), ako ne (hr) Danish: medmindre (da), undtagen (da) Dutch: tenzij (nl) Finnish: ellei (fi), jollei (fi) French: à moins que (fr) Georgian: თუ არ (ka) German: wenn nicht (de), es sei denn (de) Hebrew: (formally) אלמלא (he) (Ilmalé) Hungarian: hacsak nem, kivéve ha

Indonesian: kecuali (id) Italian: a meno che (it), se non (it) Japanese: もし...でなければ (moshi...de nakereba) Korean: ...이 아니면 (...i animyeon) Kurdish: مه‌گه‌ر Norwegian: hvis ikke Portuguese: a menos que (pt), a não ser que (pt) Russian: если не (ru) (jésli ne) Spanish: a menos que (es) Swedish: såvida ej Telugu: తప్ప (tappa) Ukrainian: якщо не (yákshcho ne) Welsh: oni (cy)

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: distance · thinking · beginning · #628: unless · seeing · won't · plain