else
For otherwise; or else.
Adjective
- Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
- The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?
- Whatever else she may be, she is not a surgeon.
- When all else fails, read the instructions.
Origin
From Middle English ells, elles, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (“of another, of something else”), genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos, from *h₂el- (“other”). Cognate with Old Frisian elles (“other”), Old High German elles, ellies (“other”), Danish eller (“or”), Danish ellers (“otherwise”), Swedish eljes, eljest (“or else, otherwise”), Norwegian elles (“else, otherwise”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis, “other”), Latin alius (“other, another”), Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), Arcadocypriot αἶλος (aîlos), modern Greek αλλιώς (alliós, “otherwise, else”), Proto-Slavic *olni.
Derived
all else being equal all else the same anybody else anyone else anyplace else anything else anywhere else elif elsehow elseness elseward elseweb elsewhat elsewhen elsewhence elsewhere elsewhither elsewho elsewhom elsewise elseworld everybody else everyone else everywhere else
Adverb
- Otherwise, if not.
- How else (= in what other way) can it be done?
- I'm busy Friday; when else (= what other time) works for you?
- The crust of ice on the else rippling brook was so transparent, and so thin in texture, that the lively water might of its own free will have stopped—in Tom’s glad mind it had—to look upon the lovely morning. - 1842...
Synonyms
Derived
Conjunction
- For otherwise; or else.
- Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.
- He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, and his first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it. - 1903...