1 used to state what the result would be if sth did not happen or if the situation were different:
My parents lent me the money. Otherwise, I couldn't have afforded the trip. * Shut the window, otherwise it'll get too cold in here. * We're committed to the project. We wouldn't be here otherwise.
2 apart from that:
There was some music playing upstairs. Otherwise the house was silent. * He was slightly bruised but otherwise unhurt.
3 in a different way to the way mentioned; differently:
Bismarck, otherwise known as 'the Iron Chancellor' * It is not permitted to sell or otherwise distribute copies of past examination papers. * You know what this is about. Why pretend otherwise (= that you don't)? * I wanted to see him but he was otherwise engaged (= doing sth else).
IDIOMS
or otherwise used to refer to sth that is different from or the opposite of what has just been mentioned:
It was necessary to discover the truth or otherwise of these statements. * We insure against all damage, accidental or otherwise.
moreatKNOWv.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
Where does this definition of otherwise come from?
This entry for otherwise is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is otherwise a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, otherwise is tagged as adverb.
Does otherwise appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — otherwise appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
