How to Use or else in a Sentence

or else

idiom

• And teenagers have to find something or else they get lost.
  — Alex Ross, Peoplemag, 3 May 2023
• Trump told the Chinese to keep their hands off of Taiwan — or else.
  — CNBC, 17 July 2024
• She was called a French doll, or else a boudoir doll, or else a fashion doll.
  — Cynthia Ozick, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023
• This has got to be like the three-year policy or else this is crazy.
  — Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 12 June 2024
• The trick is to give them something to climb, or else their vines will languish in a mildewy mess on the ground.
  — Alex Testere, Saveur, 24 July 2024
• But a clown who makes no one laugh is not a clown, or else is stuck in a Beckett play.
  — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
• Don't hide your main point in the fourth paragraph or else nobody will read it.
  — Expert Panel®, Forbes, 12 Feb. 2024
• All of the stories take place within cities, or else on the road between cities.
  — Dennis Zhou, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
• But children’s fate, through the passage of years is to become grown-up or else dead.
  — Daniel Foster, National Review, 30 Nov. 2023
• Congress must pass a funding bill by the end of this week, or else the government will shut down.
  — The Editors, National Review, 14 Nov. 2023
• Just take careful steps and maintain a sense of direction … or else you may get lost along the way.
  — Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 8 Mar. 2024
• Be self-aware — or else others might need to wake you up from your obsession.
  — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 25 Jan. 2024
• Opponents had better get their bearings and up to speed in 2024, or else.
  — Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 2 Aug. 2024
• To enjoy the maximum amount of fun, just do your best to keep track of all your events, or else some appointments could slip through the cracks.
  — Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 10 Sep. 2023
• All the vouchers had to be used by a certain date, or else the federal government would take them back.
  — Lucy Tompkins, USA TODAY, 13 Aug. 2024
• Gang leaders have to pay their soldiers or else risk being overthrown.
  — Shannon K. Crawford, ABC News, 1 Aug. 2023
• Subtly strewed aluminum casts of leaves, roots and even anchovies lie on the floor, or else on tatami mats sheathed in sheets of pale silicone.
  — Martha Schwendener, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
• The body gave the facility 60 days to rectify any issues or else it could be ordered to close its doors.
  — Louis Casiano, Fox News, 14 May 2024
• The panel had to be unanimous or else the shooter would have received life in prison without parole.
  — Julianne McShane, NBC News, 3 Aug. 2023
• His novels often make fun of genres, or else invent them.
  — Maya Binyam, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
• Essentially: Spirit has to do more with less — or else.
  — Melvin Backman, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2024
• Every player on the floor must be able to do it all — dribble, pass, shoot, defend — or else they, and as a result, their team, will get exposed.
  — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 9 Aug. 2024
• The cinematographer, Erik Messerschmidt, likes to mount a camera down low, next to the left wheel arch of a race car, or else behind the cockpit, staring ahead.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2023
• There are two backup launch dates available December 25 and 26, or else the launch will have to wait until January.
  — Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 24 Oct. 2023
• For instance, much more screen time is given to the Israeli side than the Palestinian one, which is only seen from a safe distance, or else in videos displayed on a phone.
  — Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2024
• Add crushed ice two-thirds or so full and agitate (either swizzle back and forth with a swizzle stick or a bar spoon, or else just stir) until the glass begins to frost.
  — Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 11 July 2024
• Add crushed ice two-thirds or so full and agitate (either swizzle back and forth with a swizzle stick or a bar spoon, or else just stir) until the glass begins to frost.
  — Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 8 Aug. 2024
• Many of the deceased were plagued by the same hallucinatory countdowns: a deadline by which to halt their research, or else.
  — Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
• As is de rigueur in movie marketing, studios don’t blatantly sell musicals as musicals or else no one will show up.
  — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 7 Oct. 2024
• The intrigue: Some experts think churches need to change their structures or even theology to retain more young women, or else face extinction.
  — Russell Contreras, Axios, 28 Sep. 2024

Last Updated: 17 Nov 2024