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Glite Dictionary
⚠️ Or else 🔀 In other ways 🔄 Differently
otherwise

otherwise

630 3.1
Apart from that, things are normal
  • adverb
  • /ˈʌðərˌwaɪz/
translation icon : por lo demás
  • A little hungry, but otherwise healthy.
  • otherwise known as
  • otherwise healthy
  • otherwise qualified

I'm talking about people who live otherwise perfectly normal lives.

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Examples

  • A serious stumble in an otherwise perfect routine.

    Blades of Glory (2007)

  • These are great ways to meet people that you otherwise wouldn't naturally meet.

    Harvard University

  • I'm talking about people who live otherwise perfectly normal lives.

    Danny Jones

  • The condition can be an incidental finding in otherwise healthy individuals, particularly young adults.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Teachers encouraged the children to use the equipment, but did not otherwise provide structured coaching.

    Academic text (2013)

  • Otherwise, I wouldn't be stuck here in the middle-- in the middle of wherever we are.

    Last Resort (1996)

  • It adds a certain lively quality to an otherwise dead painting.

  • With the game projected onto the dry-erase board, the otherwise independent activity became a collaborative competition.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Failure to adapt the treatment to local circumstances may render an otherwise powerful treatment ineffective.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The weather was bad, but otherwise, we still had fun at the picnic.

Synonyms

differently
vsotherwise
780 1.1

In a way that is not the same as another person or thing

can mean a different way but also means in other respects
regardless
vsotherwise
660 3.1

Despite something that might stop you

is about a different way or other respects rather than ignoring conditions
other than
vsotherwise
350 1.0

Not including someone or something

is used to show a different way or other respects not to list exceptions
apart
vsotherwise
253 1.0

Except for something or someone

focuses on a different manner or other respects rather than marking exclusion

Idioms

otherwise engaged
4 4.6

Busy with something else and not available

Surface Forms

otherwise positive

Morphology

otherwise = other (transparent) = other + wise

The sense 'in other respects / apart from that' is a natural extension of 'other' + '-wise' and is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

Otherwise is built from other ('different') and wise ('way'), and it literally meant 'in other respects' or 'in another way'. So we use otherwise to say 'apart from that' or 'in other ways'.