Else definition | Dictionary.com

else

[els]

–adjective

1.	other than the persons or things mentioned or implied: What else could I have done?

2.	in addition to the persons or things mentioned or implied: Who else was there?

3.	other or in addition (used in the possessive following an indefinite pronoun): someone else's money.

–adverb

4.	if not (usually prec. by or): It's a macaw, or else I don't know birds.

5.	in some other way; otherwise: How else could I have acted?

6.	at some other place or time: Where else might I find this book?

—Idiom

7.	or else, or suffer the consequences: Do what I say, or else.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME, OE elles (c. OHG elles), equiv. to ell- other (c. Goth aljis, L alius, OIr aile Gk állos, Armenian ayl other; cf. eldritch ) + -es -s¹

Usage note:
The possessive forms of somebody else, everybody else, etc., are somebody else's, everybody else's, the forms somebody's else, everybody's else being considered nonstandard in present-day English. One exception is the possessive for who else, which is occasionally formed as whose else when a noun does not immediately follow: Is this book yours? Whose else could it be? No, it's somebody else's.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Else

else (ěls)

adj.

Other; different: Ask somebody else.
Additional; more: Would you like anything else?

adv.

In a different or additional time, place, or manner: I always do it this way and I don't know how else it could be done. Where else do you want to go besides Miami?
If not; otherwise: Be careful, or else you will make a mess.

[Middle English elles, from Old English; see al-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: Else is often used redundantly in combination with prepositions such as but, except, and besides. The sentence No one else but Sam saw the accident would thus be better without else. · When a pronoun is followed by else, the possessive form is generally written with the 's following else: That must be someone else's (not someone's else) book. Both who else's and whose else are in use, but not whose else's: Who else's book could it have been? Whose else could it have been? See Usage Notes at who, whose.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Else

Else\, a. & pron. [OE. & AS. elles otherwise, gen. sing. of an adj. signifying other; akin to OHG. elles otherwise, OSw. ["a]ljes, Sw. eljest, Goth. aljis, adj., other, L. alius, Gr. ?. Cf. Alias, Alien.] Other; one or something beside; as, Who else is coming? What else shall I give? Do you expect anything else? "Bastards and else." --Shak.

Note: This word always follows its noun. It is usual to give the possessive form to else rather than to the substantive; as, somebody else's; no one else's. "A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case." --G. Eliot. "A suit of clothes like everybody else's." --Thackeray.

Else

Else\, adv. & conj. 1. Besides; except that mentioned; in addition; as, nowhere else; no one else.

2. Otherwise; in the other, or the contrary, case; if the facts were different.

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it. --Ps. li. 16.

Note: After `or', else is sometimes used expletively, as simply noting an alternative. "Will you give thanks, . . . or else shall I?" --Shak.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Else

Spanish: más, otro,

German: andere (-r, *-s),

Japanese: そのほかに

More Translations »

else

O.E. elles "other, otherwise, different," from P.Gmc. *aljaz (cf. Goth. aljis "other," O.H.G. eli-lenti, O.E. el-lende, both meaning "in a foreign land;" see also Alsace), an adverbial genitive of the neut. of PIE base *al- "beyond" (cf. Gk. allos "other," L. alius; see alias). Synonym of other, the nuances of usage are often arbitrary. Elsewhere is O.E. elles hwær. It survived, but elsewhen (1418), elsewhat (O.E.), elsewho (c.1542) did not.

else

see in someone's (else's) shoes; or else; something else; something else again.

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