different between else vs except

English

Etymology

From Middle English ells, elles, from Old English elles (“other, otherwise, different”), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas, from Proto-Germanic *aljas (“of another, of something else”), genitive of *aljaz (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?élyos, from *h?el- (“other”).

Cognate with Old Frisian elles (“other”), Old High German elles, ellies (“other”), Danish eller (“or”), Danish ellers (“otherwise”), Swedish eljes, eljest (“or else, otherwise”), Norwegian elles (“else, otherwise”), Gothic ???????????????????? (aljis, “other”), Latin alius (“other, another”), Ancient Greek ????? (állos), Arcadocypriot ????? (aîlos), modern Greek ?????? (alliós, “otherwise, else”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?ls/
• (colloquial) IPA^(key): /?lts/
• Rhymes: -?ls

Adjective

else (not comparable)

1. (postpositive, used only with indefinite or interrogative pronouns) Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.

   The instructor is busy. Can anyone else help me?

   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     Prospero:

     Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. Follow me;

     Hark what thou else shalt do me.

Usage notes

• This adjective usually follows an indefinite or interrogative pronoun, as in the examples above. In other cases, the adjective other is typically used.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

else (not comparable)

1. (follows interrogative adverbs) Otherwise, if not.

   How else (=in what other way) can it be done?

   I'm busy Friday; when else (=what other time) works for you?

Usage notes

• (otherwise): This word frequently follows interrogative adverbs, such as how, why, and when, as well as the derived however, whyever, and whenever.

Synonyms

• otherwise

Derived terms

• or else

Translations

Conjunction

else

1. For otherwise; or else.

   Then the Wronskian of f and g must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.

   • 1903, Jack London, The Call of the Wild, Grosset & Dunlap, page 44:

     […] and his first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it.

Translations

See also

• and
• if
• not
• or
• then

Anagrams

• EELS, ELEs, Lees, Slee, eels, l'ees, lees, lese, seel, sele

Italian

Noun

else f

1. plural of elsa

Anagrams

• lese

English

Alternative forms

• excepte (rare or archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French excepter, from Latin exceptus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?s?pt/
• IPA^(key): /?k?s?pt/
• IPA^(key): /?k?s?pt/
• Rhymes: -?pt

Verb

except (third-person singular simple present excepts, present participle excepting, simple past and past participle excepted)

1. (transitive) To exclude; to specify as being an exception.
   • 2007, Glen Bowersock, ‘Provocateur’, London Review of Books 29:4, page 17:

     But this [ban on circumcision] must have been a provocation, as the emperor Antoninus Pius later acknowledged by excepting the Jews.

2. (intransitive) To take exception, to object (to or against).
   • , vol.1, New York Review Books 2001, p.312:

     Yea, but methinks I hear some man except at these words […].

   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial, Penguin 2005, page 23:

     The Athenians might fairly except against the practise of Democritus to be buried up in honey; as fearing to embezzle a great commodity of their Countrey

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, page 96:

     he was a great lover of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed for a connoisseur; for he always excepted against the finest compositions of Mr Handel.

Related terms

Translations

Preposition

except

1. with the exception of; but.

   Synonyms: apart from, except for, outtake, with the exception of

Synonyms

• see also Thesaurus:except

Derived terms

Translations

Conjunction

except

1. With the exception (that); used to introduce a clause, phrase or adverb forming an exception or qualification to something previously stated.
2. (archaic) Unless; used to introduce a hypothetical case in which an exception may exist.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke IX:

     And they sayde: We have no moo but five loves and two fisshes, except we shulde goo and bye meate for all this people.

   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p.106:

     Offensive wars, except the cause be very just, I will not allow of.

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 27:

     I am […] not so clear how you will be able to avoid it, except you assert the independence to which your estate gives you a title.

Translations

Anagrams

• expect