or else

idiom

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

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

—used to say what another possibility is

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

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 Under the law, the current owners of the video sharing platform, Chinese tech firm ByteDance, will need to sell the app within 270 days or else it will be wiped from Apple and Google app stores in the United States. —

Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 24 Apr. 2024 The form has been endlessly riffed on, often (and more and more as time passes) by people who have no knowledge of its inventor or else attribute the ersatz absurdist specimens to him. —

Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024 The ban requires local artists to rewrite their music to comply with the restrictions by June 1st, or else they won’t be allowed to perform publicly. —

Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2024 Many of the continent’s militaries grew out of either armed resistance movements to colonial rule, or else its opposite, colonial security forces. —

Zachariah Mushawatu, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Apr. 2024 Jobs with erratic or traditionally late work hours (like legislative staffers or newspaper reporters) would still be allowed to be contacted, provided that employers clearly spell out non-contact hours in worker contracts, or else compensate on-call time. —

Andrew Sheeler, Sacramento Bee, 3 Apr. 2024 Essentially: Spirit has to do more with less — or else. —

Melvin Backman, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024 Normally, a documentarian with access to a celebrity of Martin’s caliber would pick a focus, or else try to generate some kind of career-encompassing overview. —

Peter Debruge, Variety, 26 Mar. 2024 Diverter electrodes on either side of the stream could permit the drops to proceed straight to the paper, or else deflect them onto an absorbent pad or into a gutter to be collected and reused. —

Phillip W. Barth, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Mar. 2024

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