else

1 of 2

adverb

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

else

2 of 2

adjective

: other:
a
: being different in identity
it must have been somebody else
b
: being in addition
what else did he say?

Examples of else in a Sentence

Adverb We decided to go someplace else for dinner. if you could do it over again, how else would you have done it? Adjective is there anything else you would like to add to your list?
Recent Examples on the Web
Adverb
Academy members still have a troubling tendency to reward Black women for playing supporting, even subservient roles in other people’s stories — and little else. Kevinisha Walker, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2024 Infusing these devices with AI invites all the same concerns skeptics have had about sticking AI into everything else. Boone Ashworth, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2024 The next day, in a statement to Alcala Bach, the NTTA admitted its mistake — that the tolls were associated with license plates on cars that belonged to someone else. Steve Coffman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Mar. 2024 While no one else's meat was as tough as mine, the consensus from our group of six was that the food was bad. Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024 Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention. Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 8 Mar. 2024 This has more to do with how moisturizers feel than anything else. Sarah Y. Wu, Glamour, 8 Mar. 2024 What works best for you might not work best for someone else. Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024 But there is much else to celebrate in the season, everything from a Florence Price Symphony and a CSO debut by Chopin Competition winner Bruce Liu to an extraordinary assortment of guest conductors. David Lyman, The Enquirer, 8 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Kristy Walker—Fortune The pandemic had sent the startup’s delivery business soaring, but as lockdowns eased and customers stopped being willing to pay high delivery fees to have someone else shop on their behalf, Instacart needed to develop other ways to make money. Maria Aspan, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2023 The biggest danger bike riders, pedestrians and everyone else face is a transportation system built to move cars and move them quickly. Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023 But there’s little else individuals can do to protect themselves once the crowd’s pressure builds. WIRED, 3 Nov. 2022 But there’s little else voters approve of, and Democratic strategists believe that knocking Trump on the economy could be his campaign’s death knell. Nicole Goodkind, Fortune, 9 July 2020 My resting state is giving someone else attention -- not actually receiving it. Brooke Baldwin, CNN, 19 Apr. 2020 And no different than anyone else tests and launches, et cetera. Time Staff, Time, 20 June 2019 These can be chores (do a load of laundry), exercise (bang out a set of push-ups), or something else (break for coffee and tea). Fortune Editors, Fortune, 27 Mar. 2020 There are also interviews, bedtime stories, and everything else celebrities can come up with to keep our spirits afloat. Kathryn Lindsay, refinery29.com, 19 Mar. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'else.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adverb

Middle English elles, going back to Old English elles, adverbial use of genitive singular neuter of elle "other," going back to Germanic *alja- "other" (whence, with parallel formation, Old High German alles, elles "else," Gothic aljis), going back to Indo-European *h2el-i̯o-, whence also Latin alius "other," Old Irish aile, Middle Welsh eil "second," Greek állos "other," Armenian ayl, Tocharian B allek "other, another"

Note: Excepting the frozen genitival constructions represented by Old English elles (cf. owiht elles, elles awiht, literally "aught of other" = "aught else"), the pronoun *alja- is marginally attested in Germanic languages outside of compounds (as Old English elcor, ellicor "else," Old High German ellihor "further," Old Norse elligar, ellar, ella "otherwise") and the initial element el- "other, foreign" (cf. Old English eleland "foreign country," Old High German elilenti "foreign"). G.E. Dunkel (Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme) accepts the primary character of Indo-European *a and regards *ali̯o- as a thematization of *al-i "elsewhere." He rejects the presence of a laryngeal because *l-i, which he considers a variant of *al-i, shows no laryngeal in Greek lī́ān "exceedingly, very, too" and pálin "back" (where the a is not lengthened).

Adjective

Middle English elles, going back to Old English — more at else entry 1

First Known Use

Adverb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of else was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near else

Cite this Entry

“Else.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/else. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

else

1 of 2 adverb
1
: in a different or additional manner or place or at a different time
how else could it be done
where else can we meet
2
: if the facts are or were different : if not : otherwise
leave or else you'll be sorry

else

2 of 2 adjective
1
: being different in identity
somebody else
2
: being in addition
what else

More from Merriam-Webster on else

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