else
UK/ɛls/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
colloquial/ɛlts/
else adjective: other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
Adjective
else (not comparable)
Adverb
else (not comparable)
Conjunction
else
- For otherwise; or else.
- Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.
- He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, and his first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it.1903 July, Jack London, “The Law of Club and Fang”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 44
Proper noun capitalized: Else
Else
- A surname.
else meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
else in Hindi
- else
- वरना varnā
else in Tamil
- word that implies any result with the exception of the one being referred to
- வேறு vēṟu
- for otherwise — see also or else
- இல்லையெனில் illaiyeṉil
else in Urdu
- else
- ورنہ varnā
else in Bengali
- অন্যথায়, আর, নতুবা, নয়, আরত্ত, নচেৎ
More languagesFewer languages
- else in Telugu
- మరి mari
- else in Malayalam
- മറ്റൊന്ന്, മറ്റൊരാൾ
- else in Arabic
- غَيْر ḡayr, آخَر ʔāḵar, وَإِلَا wa-ʔilā
Examples of else in a sentence
- When all else fails, read the instructions.
- As with most else in society, early Americans believed that health and healing were in God's hand.2013, Keith T. Krawczynski, Daily Life in the Colonial City:
Synonyms of else
Origin of else
From Middle English ells, elles, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (“of another, of something else”), genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos, from *h₂el- (“other”). Cognate with Old Frisian elles (“other”), Old High German elles, ellies (“other”), Danish eller (“or”), Danish ellers (“otherwise”), Swedish eljes, eljest (“or else, otherwise”), Norwegian elles (“else, otherwise”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌹𐍃 (aljis, “other”), Latin alius (“other, another”), Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), Arcadocypriot αἶλος (aîlos), modern Greek αλλιώς (alliós, “otherwise, else”), Proto-Slavic *olni.
* As an English surname, spelling variant of Ell. * As a north German surname, of Low German origin, from Proto-West Germanic *aliʀu (“alder”), comparable to Dutch els.
Words formed from else
- all else being equal
- all else the same
- anybody else
- anyone else
- anyplace else
- anything else
- anywhere else
- elif
- elsehow
- elseness
- elseward
- elseweb
- elsewhat
- elsewhen
- elsewhence
- elsewhere
- elsewhither
- elsewho
- elsewhom
- elsewise
- elseworld
- everybody else
- everyone else
- everywhere else
- if all else fails
- if nothing else
- like nobody else
- most else
- much else
- nobody else
- nothing else
- nothing else for it
- nowhen else
- Nowhere Else
- somebody else
- someone else
- someplace else
- something else
- somewhere else
- what else
- what else is new
- or else
- if-then-else
- dangling else
Words that rhyme with else
Questions about else
- What does else mean?
- Else means other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
- What is else in Hindi?
- Else in Hindi is वरना (varnā). See Else meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use else in a sentence?
- When all else fails, read the instructions.
- What part of speech is else?
- Else can be an adjective, an adverb, a conjunction or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce else?
- Else is pronounced /ɛls/ (UK).
Words near else in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: else (page history and authors); Else (page history and authors); वरना (Hindi) (page history and authors); ورنہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); else (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); మరి (Telugu) (page history and authors); else (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-else.ogg.
Cite this entry: “else.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/else. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.