one or the other
idiom
: one of two persons or things but not the other
One or the other of us will have to go.
Examples of one or the other in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
When one stock ticks up, the other ticks down showing a pattern of investors favoring one or the other.
—
Jason Gewirtz, CNBC, 13 Aug. 2025
So, too, the bottle of scotch beside the globe and the pair of old typewriters on one or the other of which Lewis had once tapped out drafts of articles for the San Francisco Examiner and the Herald Tribune, magazine features for the Saturday Evening Post, and essays for Harper’s.
—Donovan Hohn
june 13, Literary Hub, 13 June 2025
Some kitchen displays will opt for one or the other—such as a buffet cabinet used only for displaying vintage china, or a shelving unit featuring contemporary dishes and recipe books.
—Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Aug. 2025
Plus the Towns and Brunson metrics were brutal in the playoffs, as the Pacers took turns attacking one or the other until Thibodeau made a substitution.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for one or the other
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Jason Gewirtz, CNBC, 13 Aug. 2025
So, too, the bottle of scotch beside the globe and the pair of old typewriters on one or the other of which Lewis had once tapped out drafts of articles for the San Francisco Examiner and the Herald Tribune, magazine features for the Saturday Evening Post, and essays for Harper’s.
—Donovan Hohn
june 13, Literary Hub, 13 June 2025
Some kitchen displays will opt for one or the other—such as a buffet cabinet used only for displaying vintage china, or a shelving unit featuring contemporary dishes and recipe books.
—Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Aug. 2025
Plus the Towns and Brunson metrics were brutal in the playoffs, as the Pacers took turns attacking one or the other until Thibodeau made a substitution.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for one or the other
Cite this Entry
“One or the other.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one%20or%20the%20other. Accessed 31 Aug. 2025.
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