if not

idiom

1

—used to talk about the negative result or effect of something

You should study. If not, you won't pass the test.

2

—used to express surprise about meeting someone when it is not expected

So I went to the game and who should I see there if not my old friend Tom!

Examples of if not in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As the would-be proud new homeowners learned, the residence, owned by an absentee title-holder, had until very recently housed about thirty-plus squatters most if not all of whom apparently centered their squalid existences on drugs. —Matt Thompson, SPIN, 13 May 2024

Dozens, if not hundreds, of additional stories have been written about Tesla this month, both negative and positive, across the world. —William Gavin, Quartz, 13 May 2024

Then along came Hollywood, and a critical mass of the most talented screenwriters, directors, and actors around joined forces to produce compelling and engaging content that can cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 7 May 2024

Resort 2021 Photo: Courtesy of Chanel Photo: Courtesy of Chanel The location: The show would have been shown in Capri if not for the pandemic. —Steff Yotka, Vogue, 30 Apr. 2024

Proposal reflects potential for health benefits The cannabis plant has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries if not millennia. —Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 30 Apr. 2024

Painting himself as a defender of student safety, the Republican House speaker instead put hundreds if not thousands of anti-war protesters in danger — Jewish students included — by conflating their pro-Palestinian stances with sympathy for Hamas. —Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2024

There must be some sort of ceiling, some point of exhaustion—if not emotional, then financial. —Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 29 Apr. 2024

Campbell Heritage Theatre, Campbell Students who attended Campbell Union High School decades ago performed on the stage of what had to have been one of the most impressive school auditoriums in the state, if not the country. —Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 29 Apr. 2024