if not

idiom

1

—used to talk about the negative result or effect of something

You should study. If not, you won't pass the test.

2

—used to express surprise about meeting someone when it is not expected

So I went to the game and who should I see there if not my old friend Tom!

Examples of if not in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Whatever the cause, unwanted, blotchy redness on your face can be distracting (if not genuinely uncomfortable). —Sara Coughlin, SELF, 30 Oct. 2024

Architectural trends and market factors are of course region specific, if not neighborhood specific, and ever evolving. —Richard Olsen, Forbes, 30 Oct. 2024

Petroglyphs made by Indigenous cultures alongside dinosaur tracks, or even fashioned to look like footprints left by three-toed dinosaurs, indicate that people have been fascinated with dinosaur fossils for centuries, if not millennia. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Oct. 2024

Leopold told of a river meandering toward the Sea of Cortez and creating a verdant paradise for migratory birds and local species including quail and jaguars, a wilderness far removed from the booming American Southwest in image if not in distance. —Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic, 28 Oct. 2024