Word.ws English Dictionary

if

/ɪf/

if conjunction: supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.

Conjunction

if

  1. Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.
    • I'll do it next week if I have time.
    • I'll come only if you do the driving.
    1. A keyword that invokes conditional processing: in the event that a given condition is true, execute the given statement(s) (otherwise execute other statements).
      • if A then B else C
  2. Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition.
    • If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't know.
    • If I was rich, I'd live in a big house by the sea.
    1. (excessive, usually) Even if; even in the circumstances that.
      • I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.
      • You're finishing your chowder if you sit there all afternoon!
  3. Considering the fact that; given that; introducing a condition that is known to be true.
    • The drain's blocked — and if the drain's blocked, the water won't flow.
    • O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare?1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part I (books I–III), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza ii, page 66
  4. When; whenever; every time that.
    • If you heat water to 100° C, it boils.
    • If it rains, it pours.
  5. Although; used to introduce a concession; may..but.
    • He was a great friend, if a little stingy at the bar.
    • She won her team's admiration, if not the award, for her performance.
  6. (proscribed, sometimes) Whether; used to introduce a noun clause, an indirect question, that functions as the direct object of certain verbs.
    • I don't know if I want to go or not.
    • Quoth Matthew, “ […] / She doubts if two and two make four, / […] ”1715–1717, Matthew Prior, Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind, Canto III
  7. Introducing a relevance conditional; in case.
    • I have leftover cake if you want some.
    • If you want to go home, I have the car keys.
  8. (rare) While; used to introduce a contrast.
    • If his Russian was music, his English was murder.1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 3.3, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 66
    • If the outcome of the land war on the Eastern Front is usually seen as decisive, historical views on the importance of the air war are mixed.2015, Phillips Payson O'Brien, How the War was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II, page 8

Noun (1)

if (plural ifs)

  1. (informal) An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc.
    • The board can't approve this project; there are too many ifs.
    • Sir Fran. Nay, but Chargy, if——— ¶ Miran. Nay, Gardy, no Ifs.——Have I refus'd three northern lords, two British peers, and half a score knights, to have put in your Ifs?1709, Susannah Centlivre, The Busy Body, Act III, in John Bell (ed.), British Theater, J. Bell (1791), page 59

Noun (2) capitalized: IF

IF (countable and uncountable, plural IFs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of interactive fiction.
    • The “Zarfian Cruelty Scale” rates games as Merciful, Polite, Tough, Nasty, or Cruel. The scale describes how works of IF become unwinnable, especially how and when the interactor (here a player, and one trying to win) learns this.2007, Jeremy Douglass, Command Lines, page 88
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of impact factor.
  3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of intermediate filament.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of intermediate frequency.
  5. (abbreviation, initialism, nutrition) Initialism of intermittent fasting.
  6. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of immunofluorescence.
  7. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of international federation.

if meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

if in Hindi

supposing that
अगर agar, यदि yadi, जो jo
whether
कि ki

if in Tamil

supposing that
என்றால் eṉṟāl

if in Urdu

supposing that
اگر agar, یدی yadī

if in Bengali

supposing that
যদি jodi
although; used to introduce a concession
যদিও jodiō
whether
কিনা kina, কি না ki na
More languagesFewer languages
if in Telugu
అయితే ayitē
if in Malayalam
എങ്കിൽ eṅkil
if in Punjabi
ਜੇ je
if in Sanskrit
यदि yadi
if in Sinhala
නම් nam, නං naṁ
if in Pashto
که چېرې ka čere, که ka, چې که če ka
if in Arabic
إِنْ ʔin, لَوْ, إِذَا ʔiḏā
if in Malay
kalau, kira, jika, jikalau
if in Indonesian
jika, kalau, apabila
if in Persian
اگر agar, چنانچه čenânče, čonânče, که آیا ke âyâ
if in Thai
ถ้า หาก tâa
if in Vietnamese
nếu trường hợp, dù, but see là, thì
if in Myanmar
က ka., အကယ်၍ a.kairwe, ရင် rang, လျှင် hlyang

Examples of if in a sentence

  • Fetch me a cold beer if there's one in the fridge.
  • If I give you the money, will you buy it for me?
  • If you prefer, I can come tomorrow instead.
  • She could have used my car if the battery hadn't been flat.
  • “Wait a minute!” said the girl: “I wouldn’t hurry by, if it was you that was coming out to be hung, the next time eight o’clock struck, Bill.1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […]...
  • Both Spear & Davis were indicted in the witchhunt surrounding the sensational (if nonexistent) "Revere sex ring."1981 April 11, Mitzel, “Kopacz Acquitted In Barbre Killing”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

All 40 example sentences with if

Forms of if

Conjunction
alternative formeef
alternative formifen
alternative formiffen
alternative formif'n
Noun
pluralifs
pluralIFs

Origin of if

From Middle English if, yif, yef, from Old English ġif (“if”), from Proto-West Germanic *jabu, *jabē, from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”). Cognate with Scots gif (“if, whether”), Saterland Frisian af, of (“if, whether”), West Frisian oft (“whether”), Dutch of (“or, whether, but”), Middle Low German ef, if, af, of ("if; whether"; > German Low German of), German ob (“if, whether”), Icelandic ef (“if”).

Words formed from if

Phrases with if

138 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with if

28 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about if

What does if mean?
If means supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.
What is if in Hindi?
If in Hindi is अगर (agar), यदि (yadi), जो (jo). See If meaning in Hindi.
How do you use if in a sentence?
Fetch me a cold beer if there's one in the fridge.
What part of speech is if?
If can be a conjunction or a noun.
How do you pronounce if?
If is pronounced /ɪf/.

Words near if in the dictionary

  1. Ietsists
  2. Iezrite
  3. Iezrites
  4. Iezzi
  5. Iezzis
  6. if
  7. if a day
  8. if all else fails
  9. if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
  10. if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
  11. if and only if

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: if (page history and authors); IF (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-if.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-if.wav.

Cite this entry: “if.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/if. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.