Something vs Else - What's the difference?
something | else |
An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (colloquial, of someone or something) A quality to a moderate degree.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway, and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.}}
(colloquial, of a person) A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.
(colloquial, often with really) Somebody or something who is superlative in some way.
Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.
(degree) Somewhat; to a degree.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
, chapter=5, title= (degree, colloquial) To a high degree.
*
*
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Applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.
* 1890, [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0140439234&id=IOZeJi7U4eEC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&sig=LW2P-uKmoZabe70ZKnIHIMQLXlw]
* 2003, George Angel, “Allegoady,” in Juncture, Lara Stapleton and Veronica Gonzalez edd. [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1887128913&id=qB-D32yV1VAC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&sig=9AYyYLA-MQqTgAbptreoe3VyOzQ]
* 2005, Floyd Skloot, A World of Light [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0803243189&id=TEgRGe6FiTkC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&sig=zEj4BPQ0eEFkj6LdOI8eRJlZrzE]
An object whose nature is yet to be defined.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= An object whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g., from words of a song. Also used to refer to an object earlier indefinitely referred to as 'something' (pronoun sense).
* 1999, Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0395957869&id=3ikdzDKkQ04C&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&sig=UNimtwdgeC_w_wqGXfa4LsCDik8]
* 2004, Theron Q Dumont, The Master Mind [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0766185435&id=-n_jW7BVfawC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&sig=ou-CrIyWbKyZQ0s3q0uaJTiHdsI]
* 2004, Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0060738197&id=rKeKLf7LeXAC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&sig=uAeyLuj-HYk1dLAme_rokCWQITc]
Other; in addition to previously mentioned items.
Otherwise, if not.
For otherwise; or else.
(computing, in many programming languages and pseudocode) but if the condition of the previous (if) clause is false, do the following.
As a pronoun something
is an uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.As an adjective something
is having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.As an adverb something
is (degree) somewhat; to a degree.As a verb something
is applied to an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, eg from words of a song.As a noun something
is an object whose nature is yet to be defined.As a proper noun else is
.something
English
Pronoun
(English Pronouns)Our banks are out of control, passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}
Synonyms
* (unspecified thing) sth (especially in dictionaries)Derived terms
* somethingthAdjective
(-)Adverb
(-)A Cuckoo in the Nest, passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite. There is something humiliating about it.}}
Derived terms
(to a high degree) * something awful * something bad * something fierce * something good * something terribleStatistics
*Verb
(en verb)- He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it was somethinged —vetoed, I believe she said.
- She hovers over the something somethinging and awkwardly lowers her bulk.
- “Oh how we somethinged on the hmmm hmm we were wed. Dear, was I ever on the stage?”
Noun
(en noun)The new masters and commanders, passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
- What was the something' the pilot saw, the ' something worth killing for?
- Moreover, in all of our experience with these sense impressions, we never lose sight of the fact that they are but incidental facts of our mental existence, and that there is a Something' Within which is really the Subject of these sense reports—a ' Something to which these reports are presented, and which receives them.
- She wiped something with a cloth, wiped at the wall shelf, and put the something on it, clinking glass.
else
English
Adjective
(-)- Can anyone else (=any other person) help me?
- What else (=what other thing) is there?
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
* anybody else * anyone else * anyplace else * anything else * anywhere else * elsewhere * elsewhither * everybody else * everyone else * everyplace else * everything else * everwhere else * nobody else * no one else * no place else * nothing else * nowhere else * something else * somewhere else * what else is newAdverb
(-)- 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), (why ever), and (whenever).Synonyms
* otherwiseDerived terms
* or elseConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- Then the Wronskian of ''f'' and ''g'' must be nonzero, else they could not be linearly independent.
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