Word.ws English Dictionary

if not for

if not for phrase: if (something) were not (or had not been) there; in the absence of (something); without.

Phrase

if not for

  1. If (something) were not (or had not been) there; in the absence of (something); without.
    • If not for her surgical skill, you'd be dead now, so some appreciation may be in order.

Questions about if not for

What does if not for mean?
If not for means if (something) were not (or had not been) there; in the absence of (something); without.
What part of speech is if not for?
If not for is a phrase.

Words near if not for in the dictionary

  1. if my uncle had a fanny, he'd be my aunt
  2. if my uncle had tits, he'd be my aunt
  3. if need be
  4. if needs be
  5. if not
  6. if not for
  7. if nothing else
  8. if one is a day
  9. if only
  10. if only the czar knew
  11. if only the tsar knew

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: if not for (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:

Cite this entry: “if not for.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/if_not_for. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.