or else

1. 1.

   in place of, or as an alternative to

   “Felix became a herpetologist instead”

   “alternatively we could buy a used car”

   Synonymsalternativelyinstead

Questions about or else

What does or else mean?

or else means "in place of, or as an alternative to".

What is another word for or else?

Close synonyms include alternatively, instead. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is or else a common word?

or else is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.