elsewhen

else·when
E1L1S1E1W4H4E1N1
UK/ˈɛlsʍɛn/UK/ɛlsˈʍɛn/US/-wɛn/US/-ˈwɛn/

adverb

At some other time or times; somewhen else.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

adverbelsewhen (not comparable)
  1. archaicnot comparableAt some other time or times; somewhen else.

    Never, elsewhen, from heaven when all serene / Fell there more levin-bolts; nor flamed so oft / Comets with curses fraught.

    1854, Virgil, “The First Georgic”, in W[illiam] Sewell, transl., The Georgics of Virgil, Literally and Rhythmically Translated, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: J. H. Parker, →OCLC, pages 20–21
    5 more examples

    And thus for this time I will take my leave of your mastership, purposing elsewhen to trouble you with the talk of longer letters, if I may learn that your gentleness will warrant my boldness therein.

    1552 July 21, Roger Ascham, [John Allen] Giles, “CXXXIX.—To Sir W[illiam] Cecil, (E, 7: and M, 1). Mostly about Sir John Cheke’s Recovery from Sickness. Villach July 12, 1552 [Julian calendar].”, in The Whole Works of Roger Ascham, Now First Collected and Revised, with a Life of the Author; by the Rev. Dr. Giles (Library of Old Authors), volumes I, part I (Life, &c., and Letters), London: John Russell Smith, […], published 1865, →OCLC, page 330

    On the Saturday following, her [Alice Benden's] husband [Edward Benden] willed her to go to church; which she both then and elsewhen refused to go.

    1563, John Foxe, “The Order of the Imprisonment and Tragical Handling of Alice Benden, Wife of Edward Benden, of the Parish of Staplehurst, in the County of Kent; for the Testimony of Christ’s Gospel”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe. […] (The Church Historians of England. Reformation Period.; volume VIII, part I), London: George Seeley, […], published 1868, →OCLC, book XII, page 326

    The first person singular present indicative active may be used in a way similar to the 'historic' present. It may be used to describe my own performances elsewhere and elsewhen: [...]

    1955, J[ohn] L[angshaw] Austin, “Lecture V”, in J[ames] O[pie] Urmson, Marina Sibsà, editors, How to Do Things with Words: The William James Lectures Delivered at Harvard University in 1955, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Clarendon Press, published 1975, →OCLC, page 64; republished Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2011, →ISBN, page 64

    For it can be argued that what SF [science fiction] calls the future—its quest for alien contacts and worlds elsewhere and elsewhen—is an infosphere.

    1992, George Slusser, “Introduction: Fiction as Information”, in George Slusser, Tom Shippey, editors, Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk and the Future of Narrative, Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 3

    Any spacetime point in this boundary, which is distinct from the origin point, is both elsewhere and elsewhen from it. There are no privileged directions in the elsewhere or the elsewhen.

    1994, Graham Nerlich, Andrew Westwell-Roper, “What Ontology Can Be About”, in Graham Nerlich, What Spacetime Explains: Metaphysical Essays on Space and Time, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Ontology and Methodology in Relativity), section 5 (Studying Structure), page 55

Origin

  1. Middle Englishellys whan
  2. Englishelsewhen

From Middle English ellys whan; corresponding with else + when.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

elsewhen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elsewhen

MLA

“elsewhen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elsewhen. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “elsewhen,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/elsewhen.

Source: elsewhen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.