| / English Dictionary |
OR ELSE
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I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In place of, or as an alternative to
Example:
alternatively we could buy a used car
Synonyms:
alternatively; instead; or else
Classified under:
Context examples:
Some of the people threw up stones, hoping to drive the monkey down; but this was strictly forbidden, or else, very probably, my brains had been dashed out.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was compelled to think this thought, or else there would not be any use to strive, and he would have lain down and died.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
There is this myth that finance ministers still live by, that you have to let industry pollute or else you won’t develop.
(Pollution is the World’s No. 1 Killer, VOA)
I was saying this to Mr. Cole but yesterday, and he quite agreed with me; only he is so particularly fond of music that he could not help indulging himself in the purchase, hoping that some of our good neighbours might be so obliging occasionally to put it to a better use than we can; and that really is the reason why the instrument was bought—or else I am sure we ought to be ashamed of it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Or else he would see a room in a rich house, where his friend lay asleep, dreaming and smiling at his dreams; and then the door of that room would be opened, the curtains of the bed plucked apart, the sleeper recalled, and lo! there would stand by his side a figure to whom power was given, and even at that dead hour, he must rise and do its bidding.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson, for it is evident that they must either kill her or else secure her in such a way that she could not give immediate notice of their escape.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
See to the skin tint: it is not to be replaced, for paint as you will, it is not once in a hundred times that it is not either burned too brown in the furnace or else the color will not hold, and you get but a sickly white.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then, too, existence for you must be a scene of continual change and excitement, or else the world is a dungeon: you must be admired, you must be courted, you must be flattered—you must have music, dancing, and society—or you languish, you die away.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
"Remember, an editor must have proved qualifications or else he would not be an editor."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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