OR ELSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does or else mean? 

• OR ELSE (adverb)
  The adverb OR ELSE has 1 sense:

1. in place of, or as an alternative to

  Familiarity information: OR ELSE used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OR ELSE (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In place of, or as an alternative to

Synonyms:

alternatively; instead; or else

Context example:

alternatively we could buy a used car

 Context examples 

"Now don't bite," Martin warned, "or else I'll have to punch your face. It would be a pity, for it is such a pretty face."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Somehow his words and his look did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his smile look malignant and saturnine.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“’Tis a visitation for his black-hearted deeds, and there’s more behind and comin’, or else—”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You might take a trip of a lifetime, possibly for work, or else for the pure pleasure of seeing and learning about a culture that interests you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“No, I am not your darling. Because you must be sorry that you married me, or else you wouldn't reason with me!” returned Dora.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So she cut it off, ate it, and enjoyed it, and when she had done, she thought: “The other must go down too, or else master will observe that something is missing.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“One has either to rise at a perfectly absurd hour, or else to neglect one’s toilet.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could not tell whether you would be for some meat, or only a dish of tea, after your journey, or else I would have got something ready.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I almost envy you the pleasure, and yet I believe it would be too much for me, or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

‘You have been very kind,’ said he, ‘but I must have this money, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)