or else

English

Pronunciation

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Conjunction

or else

1. Otherwise or as an alternative.

   Go now, or else you'll have to stay all night.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act (please specify |act=I or II), scene ii:

     If you wil willingly remaine with me,
     You ſhall haue honors, as your merits be:
     Or els you ſhal be forc’d with ſlauerie.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     He shall do this, or else I do recant / The pardon that I late pronounced here.

Phrase

or else

1. (idiomatic) No matter what (implies an unspecified threat).

   Clean up your room, or else!

   • 2022 June 1, Ryan Mac, “Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Else”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office, or Else [title]

   • 2024 March 9, Jacob Bernstein, “A Former Trump Aide Becomes a Liberal Favorite”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Joy Behar, who has called the MAGA movement a cult, poked her head into the room and demonstrated how invested she was in Ms. Farah Griffin’s success by offering some advice aimed squarely at me: “Be nice — or else.”

Translations

Anagrams

• Loeser, Lorees, resole, solere