else Synonyms & Antonyms

Else in a Sentence

The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?

Whatever else she may be, she is not a surgeon.

When all else fails, read the instructions.

How else (= in what other way) can it be done?

I'm busy Friday; when else (= what other time) works for you?

Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.

How else (=in what other way) can it be done?

Word Forms & Grammar

else (not comparable)

else

Origin of Else

Origin 1: 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”).

Origin 2: 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.