Otherwise

//ˈʌð.ɚˌwaɪz// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Other than supposed; different. not-comparable

    "He said he didn’t do it, but the evidence was otherwise."

Adjective
  1. 1
    other than as supposed or expected wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Differently, in another way. not-comparable

    "You may have a point, but I think otherwise."

  2. 2
    In different circumstances; or else. conjunctive, not-comparable

    "I’m not well today, otherwise I would have helped."

  3. 3
    In all other respects. conjunctive, not-comparable

    "He lost his temper once in a while. Otherwise he behaved rationally."

Adverb
  1. 1
    in other respects or ways wordnet
  2. 2
    in another and different manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
differentlyelsewiseor elseothera reboursagainst the grain

Example

More examples

"Hurry up, otherwise you'll be late for lunch."

Etymology

From Middle English otherwise, othre wise, from Old English on ōþre wīsan (literally “in (on) other/different manner”); equivalent to other + -wise. Compare West Frisian yn oarwei (“otherwise”), Icelandic öðruvísi (“different”).

Related phrases

otherwise engageduntil proven otherwisein additioninstead ofor elseput together

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.