or else
idiom
1
—used to say what will happen if something is not done
You have to leave or else you will be arrested for trespassing.
2
—used to say what another possibility is
He either thinks he can't do it or else he just isn't interested.
3
informal
—used in angry speech to express a threat without saying exactly what the threat is
Do what I say or else!
Examples of or else in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, faces an April 5 deadline to sell its stake in the app or else be banned in the U.S. after Trump extended an earlier January deadline that was set by Congress last year.
—
Joey Garrison, USA Today, 1 Apr. 2025
Trump's threat to unions and working people across America is clear: fall in line or else.
—Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
Both had apparently assumed, prior to October 7th, that Hamas could be deterred by periodic eruptions of overwhelming violence, or else be bought off by cash from Qatar.
—Bernard Avishai, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2025
But in 2004, mathematicians finally succeeded in showing that all the building blocks must fall into one of three categories, or else belong to a list of 26 outliers.
—Leila Sloman, WIRED, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for or else
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Joey Garrison, USA Today, 1 Apr. 2025
Trump's threat to unions and working people across America is clear: fall in line or else.
—Ron Estes, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
Both had apparently assumed, prior to October 7th, that Hamas could be deterred by periodic eruptions of overwhelming violence, or else be bought off by cash from Qatar.
—Bernard Avishai, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2025
But in 2004, mathematicians finally succeeded in showing that all the building blocks must fall into one of three categories, or else belong to a list of 26 outliers.
—Leila Sloman, WIRED, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for or else
Cite this Entry
“Or else.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/or%20else. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share