Adjacent Words

Else definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ELSE, a. or pron. els. [L. alius, alias. See Alien.]
Other; one or something beside. Who else is coming? What else shall I give? Do you expect any thing else? [This word, if considered to be an adjective or pronoun, never precedes its noun,but always follows it.
ELSE, adv. els. Otherwise; in the other case; if the fact were different. Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; that is, if thou didst desire sacrifice, I would give it. Ps. v.16. Repent, or else I will come to thee quickly; that is, repent, or if thou shouldst not repent, if the case or fact should be different, I will come to thee quickly. Rev
2:5.
1. Beside; except that mentioned; as, no where else.

Merriam Webster's

I. adverb Etymology: Middle English elles, from Old English; akin to Latin alius other, alter other of two, Greek allos other Date: before 12th century 1. a. in a different manner or place or at a different time <how else could he have acted> <here and nowhere else> b. in an additional manner or place or at an additional time <where else is gold found> 2. if not ; otherwise <leave or else you'll be sorry> — used absolutely to express a threat <do what I tell you or else> II. adjective Date: before 12th century other: a. being different in identity <it must have been somebody else> b. being in addition <what else did he say?>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adv. 1 (prec. by indef. or interrog. pron.) besides; in addition (someone else; nowhere else; who else). 2 instead; other, different (what else could I say?; he did not love her, but someone else). 3 otherwise; if not (run, (or) else you will be late). Etymology: OE elles, rel. to L alius, Gk allos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Else Else, a. & pron. [OE. & AS. elles otherwise, gen. sing. of an adj. signifying other; akin to OHG. elles otherwise, OSw. ["a]ljes, Sw. eljest, Goth. aljis, adj., other, L. alius, Gr. ?. Cf. Alias, Alien.] Other; one or something beside; as, Who else is coming? What else shall I give? Do you expect anything else? ``Bastards and else.'' --Shak. Note: This word always follows its noun. It is usual to give the possessive form to else rather than to the substantive; as, somebody else's; no one else's. ``A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case.'' --G. Eliot. ``A suit of clothes like everybody else's.'' --Thackeray.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Else Else, adv. & conj. 1. Besides; except that mentioned; in addition; as, nowhere else; no one else. 2. Otherwise; in the other, or the contrary, case; if the facts were different. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it. --Ps. li. 16. Note: After `or', else is sometimes used expletively, as simply noting an alternative. ``Will you give thanks, . . . or else shall I?'' --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use else after words such as 'anywhere', 'someone', and 'what', to refer in a vague way to another person, place, or thing. If I can't make a living at painting, at least I can teach someone else to paint... We had nothing else to do on those long trips... There's not much else I can say. ADJ: pron-indef/quest ADJ • Else is also an adverb. I never wanted to live anywhere else. ADV: adv ADV 2. You use else after words such as 'everyone', 'everything', and 'everywhere' to refer in a vague way to all the other people, things, or places except the one you are talking about. As I try to be truthful, I expect everyone else to be truthful... Cigarettes are in short supply, like everything else here. ADJ: pron-indef ADJ • Else is also an adverb. London seems so much dirtier than everywhere else. ADV: adv ADV 3. You use or else after stating a logical conclusion, to indicate that what you are about to say is evidence for that conclusion. He must be a good plumber, or else he wouldn't be so busy... Evidently no lessons have been learnt or else the government would not have handled the problem so sloppily. = otherwise PHRASE 4. You use or else to introduce a statement that indicates the unpleasant results that will occur if someone does or does not do something. Make sure you are strapped in very well, or else you will fall out. = otherwise PHRASE 5. You use or else to introduce the second of two possibilities when you do not know which one is true. You are either a total genius or else you must be absolutely raving mad... PHRASE 6. Above all else is used to emphasize that a particular thing is more important than other things. Above all else I hate the cold. PHRASE: PHR with cl [emphasis] 7. You can say 'if nothing else' to indicate that what you are mentioning is, in your opinion, the only good thing in a particular situation. If nothing else, you'll really enjoy meeting them. PHRASE: PHR with cl 8. You say 'or else' after a command to warn someone that if they do not obey, you will be angry and may harm or punish them. (SPOKEN) He told us to put it right, or else. PHRASE: cl PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a., pron. Other. II. ad., conj. 1. Otherwise. 2. Besides.

Moby Thesaurus

above, added, additionally, again, alias, all included, also, altogether, among other things, and all, and also, and so, another, as well, au reste, beside, besides, beyond, contrarily, elsewise, en plus, extra, farther, for lagniappe, fresh, further, furthermore, in addition, in other respects, in other ways, inter alia, into the bargain, item, likewise, more, moreover, new, not that sort, not the same, not the type, of a sort, of another sort, of sorts, on the side, on top of, or else, other, other than, otherwise, over, peculiar, plus, rare, similarly, special, sui generis, than, then, therewith, to boot, too, unique, yet