else

1 of 2

adverb

ˈel(t)s 

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?

Synonyms

Adverb

• differently
• other (than)
• otherwise

Adjective

• added
• additional
• another
• farther
• fresh
• further
• more
• other

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

Be true to yourself, and everything else will fall into place. —Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2024

That said, there’s a high chance a game of golf will be in the cards for you or someone else in your party. —Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 14 Apr. 2024

Everything else was a stage build: Norma’s smoking room, Norma’s Parlor and Norma’s bedroom. —Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Apr. 2024

But according to the documentary, behind the scenes was a company culture that prioritized thinness and whiteness over anything else, often at the emotional expense of its workers. —Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 13 Apr. 2024

But besides the jacket (for a year) and the $3.6 million in prize money, what else do Masters champions receive? —Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2024

Good containers, like just about anything else in life, take only a little attention to a few basic principles. —Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 12 Apr. 2024

No one else was injured in the accident, which led to lane closures on I-30 westbound. —Amy McDaniel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Apr. 2024

Something else hurting five-speed autos, especially in cheaper cars, is the advent of CVTs. —Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik, Quartz, 12 Apr. 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

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

Phrases Containing else

• anybody else
• anyone else
• anywhere else
• apart from anything else
• if nothing else
• if/when all else fails
• nothing else
• nothing else for it
• not so much (something) as (something else)
• or else
• something else
• what else is new?

Kids Definition

else

1 of 2 adverb

ˈels 

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