if only

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Conjunction

if only

1. Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see if,‎ only.

   It made me feel better, if only for a moment.

   It won't be much fun if only guys turn up to the party.

2. (idiomatic) I wish that; signifies a wish or desire for the present or the future.

   If only I won the lottery.

3. (idiomatic) I wish that; signifies a regret about an action in the past.

   If only I had ​listened to my parents.

4. (idiomatic) Even if for no other reason than; only just.

   I was pretty sure I wanted a red shirt, but I still tried on one blue one if only to make sure that's definitely not what I wanted.

Antonyms

• God forbid

Translations

signifies a wish

• Arabic: لَيْتَ‎ (ar) (layta), تَمَنَّى‎ (tamannā) (a sentence in subjunctive mood follows)
• Armenian: երանի (hy) (erani)
• Catalan: tant de bo, si (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 但願 (zh), 但愿 (zh) (dànyuàn), ...就好了 (jiù hǎo le)

• Czech: kéž by, kéž (cs)
• Danish: gid
• Dutch: was het maar zo dat, or use auxiliary hebben (nl) with inversion and maar (nl)
• Finnish: jos vain, kunpa
• French: si seulement (fr), pour peu que (fr)
• German: wenn auch, wenn doch nur, wenn bloß
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹 (wainei)
• Greek: είθε (el) (eíthe), μακάρι (el) (makári)

  Ancient: ὄφελον (óphelon), εἴθε (eíthe)

• Hebrew: הַלְוַאי‎ (halevái), מִי יִתֵּן‎ (he) (mi yitén)
• Hindi: काश (hi) (kāś)
• Hungarian: bár (hu), bárcsak (hu)
• Italian: magari (it), mi piacerebbe, se solo

• Japanese: (conditional sentence + ii noni (nā)) -ばいいのになあ (-ba ii noni nā), -らいいのになあ (-ra ii noni nā), -ならいいのになあ (-nara ii noni nā), -よいものを (yoi mono o)
• Kurdish: xwezî (ku)
• Latin: utinam (la)
• Malay: sekira, semoga
• Marathi: जर का (jar kā)
• Old English: ēalā ġif
• Polish: jeśli by, jeśliby, o ile (pl)
• Portuguese: oxalá (pt), quem me dera (que) quem dera (que) (a sentence in the subjunctive mood follows)
• Russian: хоте́лось бы (xotélosʹ by), е́сли бы то́лько (jésli by tólʹko), е́сли бы (ru) (jésli by), кабы (ru) (kaby), будь (ru) (budʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: да бар, само да

  Roman: da bar, samo da

• Slovene: če bi le
• Spanish: ojalá (es), si (es), si tan solo, si tan siquiera
• Turkish: keşke (tr)
• Ukrainian: я́кби (uk) (jákby)
• Yiddish: הלוואי‎ (halevay, alevay)

even if for no other reason than

• French: ne fût-ce que, ne serait-ce que (fr)
• Hungarian: ha másért nem (is), (csak/csupán/pusztán/mindössze) azért,…

• Portuguese: quanto mais não seja

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} të paktën

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} si al minus

See also

• Appendix:English examples of anapodoton

References

• if only at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• only if