or else

phrase

1

—used to say what will happen if something is not done

You have to leave or else you will be arrested for trespassing.

2

—used to say what another possibility is

He either thinks he can't do it or else he just isn't interested.

3

informal

—used in angry speech to express a threat without saying exactly what the threat is

Do what I say or else!

Examples of or else in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This began to seem unnecessary, because one either feels and believes that torture is wrong, or else one is damaged. — Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026

Buildings with mold must clean up or remediate the mold and remove the water or moisture that is the source of the problem, or else the mold will return. — Rebecca Smullin Dawson, The Conversation, 25 Sep. 2026

Other refuse made circuitous routes via Pakistan and Dubai, or else the Baltics and Central Asia, eventually landing in Hazara’s new home, Berlin. — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 24 Sep. 2026

And China, which has dismissed accusations of frontier model copying, has called on the US to listen to its business community or else risk putting the US at a further economic disadvantage. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2026