or else

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Conjunction

or else

1. Otherwise or as an alternative.

   Go now, or else you'll have to stay all night.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act (please specify |act=I or II), scene ii:

     If you wil willingly remaine with me,
     You ſhall haue honors, as your merits be:
     Or els you ſhal be forc’d with ſlauerie.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     He shall do this, or else I do recant / The pardon that I late pronounced here.

Phrase

or else

1. (idiomatic) No matter what (implies an unspecified threat).

   Clean up your room, or else!

   • 2022 June 1, Ryan Mac, “Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Else”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Else [title]

   • 2024 March 9, Jacob Bernstein, “A Former Trump Aide Becomes a Liberal Favorite”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Joy Behar, who has called the MAGA movement a cult, poked her head into the room and demonstrated how invested she was in Ms. Farah Griffin’s success by offering some advice aimed squarely at me: “Be nice — or else.”

Translations

as an alternative

• Arabic: بِطَرِيقَة أُخْرَى (bi-ṭarīqa ʔuḵrā), وَإِلَّا (wa-ʔillā)
• Armenian: այլապես (hy) (aylapes), թե չէ (tʻe čʻē)
• Azerbaijani: əks təqdirdə, yoxsa (az), ya da (az)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 要不然 (zh) (yàobùrán), 要不 (zh) (yàobù), 不然 (zh) (bùrán), 否則／否则 (zh) (fǒuzé)

• Danish: ellers
• Estonian: või muidu (et), vastasel juhul
• Finnish: tai muuten, muutoin (fi)
• French: sinon (fr)
• Georgian: თუარადა (tuarada), თორემ (torem)
• German: sonst (de), anders (de), andernfalls (de)
• Greek: ειδάλλως (el) (eidállos)

  Ancient: εἰ δὲ μή γε (ei dè mḗ ge)

• Hebrew: אוֹ שֶׁ (o she), וָלֹא (való), אַחֶרֶת (aẖéret)
• Hindi: वरना (hi) (varnā)
• Hungarian: vagy pedig, máskülönben (hu), különben (hu), ellenkező esetben
• Icelandic: annars (is), ella (is)
• Italian: altrimenti (it), se no (it)
• Japanese: そうでなければ (sō de wa nakereba), 或いは (ja) (あるいは, arui wa), もしくは (ja) (moshiku wa), さもないと (samonai to)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەنا (dena)

• Latin: aliōquī
• Lithuanian: arba (lt), nes kitaip
• Norwegian: ellers (no), hvis ikke
• Persian: وگرنه (fa) (vagarna)
• Polish: bo inaczej, bo (pl), inaczej (pl)
• Portuguese: senão (pt), caso contrário
• Romanian: că (ro) (colloquial), că de nu, (sau) altfel
• Russian: ина́че (ru) (ináče), и́наче (ru) (ínače), а то (ru) (a to), а не то́ (ru) (a ne tó) (also a threat), в проти́вном слу́чае (ru) (v protívnom slúčaje)
• Swedish: annars (sv), annars så
• Tibetan: དེ་མིན (de min), ཡང་ན (yang na)
• Urdu: ورنہ (ur) (varnā), وگرنہ (vagarnā)

no matter what

• Dutch: of anders
• Finnish: tai muuten, muutoin (fi)
• Hungarian: mert ha nem(, akkor baj lesz), (mert) különben (megnézheted magad) (and other combinations of the two phrases)
• Indonesian: kalau tidak
• Polish: bo inaczej
• Portuguese: senão (pt)
• Spanish: o verás
• Swedish: annars (sv)
• Urdu: ورنہ (ur) (varnā), وگرنہ (vagarnā)

Anagrams

• Loeser, Lorees, resole, solere