Meanings
- not comparablemannerDifferently, in another way.
Could I do otherwise than smile?
5 more examples
Near-synonyms: contrarily, contrastingly
You may have a point, but I think otherwise.
Do you want the newest items put up top, or do you want it done otherwise?
It is not permitted to sell or otherwise distribute any copies.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, euen the wordes of our Lord Iesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse:
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 6:3Synonyms: elsewise, contrarily, contrastingly · Antonyms: likewise, thuswise, nohow, in no way, not at all, by no means
- conjunctivenot comparableIn different circumstances; or else.
I’m not well today, otherwise I would have helped.
4 more examples
You have to open your umbrella, otherwise you'll get wet.
They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLCNo matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered,[…].
2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 171Synonyms: elsewise
- conjunctivenot comparableIn all other respects; apart from that; except for this.
There was one rotten apple in an otherwise perfect batch.
3 more examples
He lost his temper once in a while. Otherwise he behaved rationally.
Looking back at more than four years spent going to college I can now positively say that the most meaninful thing I accomplished (the only meaningful thing I accomplished!) was establishing a gay liberation group on campus. Otherwise my college education was almost useless.
1977 December 10, Mark N. Silber, “Gays On Campus — One Story”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 23, page 9Robin van Persie squandered United's best chance late on but otherwise it was a relatively comfortable afternoon for Liverpool's new goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who has yet to concede a Premier League goal since his £9m summer move from Sunderland.
2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC SportSynonyms: elsewise
- not comparableOther than supposed; different.
He said he didn’t do it, but the evidence was otherwise.
1 more example
Statistics need lots of information, digital and otherwise.
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbDifferently, in another way.
adverbIn different circumstances; or else.
adverbIn all other respects; apart from that; except for this.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveother than as supposed or expected
adverbin another and different manner
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishon ōþre wīsan
- Middle Englishotherwise
- Englishotherwise
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans anders
- andersunder different circumstances
Ancient Greek εἰ δὲ μή, ἄλλως
- εἰ δὲ μή (ei dè mḗ)differently, in another way
- ἄλλως (állōs)differently, in another way
- εἰ δὲ μή γε (ei dè mḗ ge)differently, in another way
Arabic خِلَافَ, خِلَافَ ذَلِك
- خِلَافَ (ḵilāfa)differently, in another way
- خِلَافَ ذَلِك (ḵilāfa ḏalik)differently, in another way
- عَكْسَ ذَلِك (ʕaksa ḏalik)differently, in another way
- وَإِلَّا (waʔillā)under different circumstances
- عَكْس ذٰلِك (ʕaks ḏālik)in all other respects
Basque beste modu batez, bestela
- beste modu batezdifferently, in another way
- bestelaunder different circumstances
- gainerakoanin all other respects
Bulgarian ина́че, и́наче
- ина́че (ináče)differently, in another way
- и́наче (ínače)differently, in another way
- различен (različen)other than supposed
- друг (drug)other than supposed
Catalan altrament, d'una altra manera
- altramentdifferently, in another way
- d'una altra maneradifferently, in another way
- si nounder different circumstances
- altramentunder different circumstances
- en cas contrariunder different circumstances
- d'altra bandain all other respects
- al contrariother than supposed
Chinese Mandarin 反之, 否則 /否则
- 反之 (fǎnzhī)differently, in another way
- 否則 /否则 (fǒuzé)under different circumstances
- 除此以外 (chúcǐyǐwài)in all other respects
- 除此之外 (chúcǐzhīwài)in all other respects
- 矛盾的 (máodùn de)other than supposed
Czech jinak, jinak
- jinakdifferently, in another way
- jinakunder different circumstances
- jinakin all other respects
Danish anderledes, ellers
- anderledesdifferently, in another way
- ellersunder different circumstances
- ellersin all other respects
Dutch anders, anderszins
- andersdifferently, in another way
- anderszinsdifferently, in another way
- andersunder different circumstances
- zo nietunder different circumstances
- afgezien vanin all other respects
- behalvein all other respects
Esperanto alimaniere, alikaze
- alimanieredifferently, in another way
- alikazeunder different circumstances
- aliokazeunder different circumstances
Estonian teisiti
- teisitidifferently, in another way
Finnish toisin, muutoin
- toisindifferently, in another way
- muutoinunder different circumstances
- muutenunder different circumstances
- muutoinin all other respects
- muutenin all other respects
- toisinother than supposed
French autrement, différemment
- autrementdifferently, in another way
- différemmentdifferently, in another way
- ou alorsdifferently, in another way
- ou biendifferently, in another way
- ni non plusdifferently, in another way
- sinonunder different circumstances
- autrementunder different circumstances
- sans quoiunder different circumstances
- sinonin all other respects
- pour le restein all other respects
- à part çain all other respects
- tout autreother than supposed
- bien différentother than supposed
German anders, ansonsten
- andersdifferently, in another way
- ansonstenunder different circumstances
- sonstunder different circumstances
- andernfallsunder different circumstances
- ansonstenin all other respects
- sonstin all other respects
Greek αλλιώς, ειδάλλως
- αλλιώς (alliós)differently, in another way
- ειδάλλως (eidállos)under different circumstances
Hebrew אַחֶרֶת, אַחֶרֶת
- אַחֶרֶת (aẖéret)differently, in another way
- אַחֶרֶת (aẖéret)under different circumstances
Hindi नहीं तो, अन्यथा
- नहीं तो (nahī̃ to)differently, in another way
- अन्यथा (anyathā)differently, in another way
- वरना (varnā)under different circumstances
- वरना (varnā)in all other respects
Hungarian máshogy, máshogyan
- máshogydifferently, in another way
- máshogyandifferently, in another way
- máskéntdifferently, in another way
- másképpdifferently, in another way
- másképpendifferently, in another way
- más módondifferently, in another way
- eltérőendifferently, in another way
- különbözőképpendifferently, in another way
- máskülönbenunder different circumstances
- különbenunder different circumstances
- egyébkéntunder different circumstances
- máskülönbenin all other respects
Icelandic öðruvísi, annars vegar
- öðruvísidifferently, in another way
- annars vegardifferently, in another way
- á annan vegdifferently, in another way
- á annan háttdifferently, in another way
- annarsunder different circumstances
- að öðrum kostiunder different circumstances
- ellaunder different circumstances
- ellegarunder different circumstances
- endranærunder different circumstances
- að öðru leytiin all other respects
- annarsin all other respects
- á annan vegother than supposed
- annars vegarother than supposed
Italian altrimenti, differentemente
- altrimentidifferently, in another way
- differentementedifferently, in another way
- altrimentiunder different circumstances
- in altre circostanzeunder different circumstances
- tuttaviain all other respects
- per altri aspettiin all other respects
- a parte ciòin all other respects
Japanese 違う様に, そうではないと
- 違う様に (chigau yō ni)differently, in another way
- そうではないと (sō de wa nai to)differently, in another way
- その他に (sono hoka ni)differently, in another way
- その他 (sono hoka)differently, in another way
- 然も無くば (samonakuba)under different circumstances
- その他は (sono-hoka)in all other respects
- 他の点では (hoka-no ten-dewa)in all other respects
Latin alioqui, aliter
- alioquidifferently, in another way
- aliterdifferently, in another way
- aliterunder different circumstances
- cēterumin all other respects
Lithuanian o šiaip
- o šiaipin all other respects
Māori pēnei
- pēneiin all other respects
Norwegian Bokmål annerledes, ellers
- annerledesdifferently, in another way
- ellersunder different circumstances
- ellersin all other respects
- for øvrigin all other respects
Persian دگرسان, وگرنه
- دگرسان (degarsān)differently, in another way
- وگرنه (vagarna)under different circumstances
- در غیر این صورت (dar ġeyr-e in surat)in all other respects
- والا (vâellâ)in all other respects
- وگرنه (vagarna)in all other respects
Polish inaczej, w przeciwnym razie
- inaczejdifferently, in another way
- w przeciwnym razieunder different circumstances
- inaczejunder different circumstances
- poza tymin all other respects
Portuguese diferente, diferentemente
- diferentedifferently, in another way
- diferentementedifferently, in another way
- de outra forma/maneiradifferently, in another way
- de outro jeito/mododifferently, in another way
- senãounder different circumstances
- fora issoin all other respects
- no maisin all other respects
- contrárioother than supposed
- em contrárioother than supposed
Romanian altfel, altfel
- altfeldifferently, in another way
- altfelunder different circumstances
Russian ина́че, и́наче
- ина́че (ináče)differently, in another way
- и́наче (ínače)differently, in another way
- ина́че (ináče)under different circumstances
- и́наче (ínače)under different circumstances
- впро́чем (vpróčem)in all other respects
- в други́х отноше́ниях (v drugíx otnošénijax)in all other respects
Scottish Gaelic a chaochladh, a chaochladh
- a chaochladhdifferently, in another way
- a chaochladhunder different circumstances
- a chaochladhin all other respects
- a chaochladhother than supposed
Slovak inak, inakšie
- inakdifferently, in another way
- inakšiedifferently, in another way
- inakunder different circumstances
- inakin all other respects
- inýother than supposed
Spanish de otra manera, otramente
- de otra maneradifferently, in another way
- otramentedifferently, in another way
- de lo contrariounder different circumstances
- otramenteunder different circumstances
- por lo demásin all other respects
- por otra partein all other respects
- aparte de estoin all other respects
- fuera de esoin all other respects
- otramentein all other respects
Swedish annorlunda, annars
- annorlundadifferently, in another way
- annarsunder different circumstances
- i annat fallunder different circumstances
- annarsin all other respects
- i övrigtin all other respects
Tamil வேறு மாதிரி, இல்லையென்றால்
- வேறு மாதிரி (vēṟu mātiri)differently, in another way
- இல்லையென்றால் (illaiyeṉṟāl)under different circumstances
- மற்றப்படி (maṟṟappaṭi)in all other respects
- மற்றும்படி (maṟṟumpaṭi)in all other respects
Turkish aksi, yoksa
- aksidifferently, in another way
- yoksaunder different circumstances
Ukrainian іна́кше, в і́ншому ви́падку
- іна́кше (inákše)differently, in another way
- в і́ншому ви́падку (v ínšomu výpadku)under different circumstances
- втім (vtim)in all other respects
Urdu ورنہ, ورنہ
- ورنہ (varnā)under different circumstances
- ورنہ (varna)in all other respects
- وگرنہ (vagarna)in all other respects
Vietnamese bằng không
- bằng khôngunder different circumstances
Welsh fel arall
- fel aralldifferently, in another way
Yiddish אַנדערש
- אַנדערש (andersh)differently, in another way
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
otherwise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/otherwise
“otherwise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/otherwise. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “otherwise,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/otherwise.
Source: otherwise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.