Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - else

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. You use else after words such as ‘anywhere’, ‘someone’, and ‘what’, to refer in a vague way to another person, place, or thing. If I can’t make a living at painting, at least I can teach someone else to paint... We had nothing else to do on those long trips... There’s not much else I can say. ADJ: pron-indef/quest ADJ • Else is also an adverb. I never wanted to live anywhere else. ADV: adv ADV 2. You use else after words such as ‘everyone’, ‘everything’, and ‘everywhere’ to refer in a vague way to all the other people, things, or places except the one you are talking about. As I try to be truthful, I expect everyone else to be truthful... Cigarettes are in short supply, like everything else here. ADJ: pron-indef ADJ • Else is also an adverb. London seems so much dirtier than everywhere else. ADV: adv ADV 3. You use or else after stating a logical conclusion, to indicate that what you are about to say is evidence for that conclusion. He must be a good plumber, or else he wouldn’t be so busy... Evidently no lessons have been learnt or else the government would not have handled the problem so sloppily. = otherwise PHRASE 4. You use or else to introduce a statement that indicates the unpleasant results that will occur if someone does or does not do something. Make sure you are strapped in very well, or else you will fall out. = otherwise PHRASE 5. You use or else to introduce the second of two possibilities when you do not know which one is true. You are either a total genius or else you must be absolutely raving mad... PHRASE 6. Above all else is used to emphasize that a particular thing is more important than other things. Above all else I hate the cold. PHRASE: PHR with cl c darkgreen]emphasis 7. You can say ‘if nothing else’ to indicate that what you are mentioning is, in your opinion, the only good thing in a particular situation. If nothing else, you’ll really enjoy meeting them. PHRASE: PHR with cl 8. You say ‘or else’ after a command to warn someone that if they do not obey, you will be angry and may harm or punish them. (SPOKEN) He told us to put it right, or else. PHRASE: cl PHR