or else
209
2.0
- idiom
:
si no
- "Come and get this other one for Daddy, or else he will begin to cry."
- or else face punishment
But there has to be silence or else it's not truly speaking.
- But there has to be silence or else it's not truly speaking.
- You have to be the good guy or else you lose it all.
- You have to keep it running or else the print head can clog.
- You say you're not, but you are or else you wouldn't, you wouldn't accept it.
- We need to move past this impasse or else nothing else can be accomplished.
- You, you can't do that or else the whole thing will fall apart.
- I had to, or else I would be swallowed up.
- So you have three years to claim your refund, or else you forfeit it.
- So you sample a lot and process those samples properly or else people will put you away.
- And I have to have that time or else I'm not gonna feel good for the judges.
Examples
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Or else, the whole world unravels.
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So you have three years to claim your refund, or else you forfeit it.
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You have to be the good guy or else you lose it all.
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Everything needs to be a function of this or else you, you kind of end up lost.
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- Or else you will send me to prison.
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But there has to be silence or else it's not truly speaking.
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We have to tend to this garden of democracy or else things could fall apart quickly," he said.
Academic text (2018) -
I feel as though I need to lean against a wall, or else I'll fall.
Fiction book (1991) -
We need to move past this impasse or else nothing else can be accomplished.
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You have to finish your homework, or else you won't be allowed to go out with your friends.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
or + else
The meaning 'otherwise / introducing a consequence' is directly derived from combining 'or' (marking an alternative) with 'else' (meaning 'otherwise' or 'in other circumstances'). This is a productive, compositional construction common in many languages and in standard English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Or else is a short warning that gives a clear choice: imagine someone saying 'Do this or else' while pointing to a bad result if you do not. So, or else came to mean 'otherwise' or 'a bad result will happen'.