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Elementary Dictionary
       

oth·er·wise

otherwise

 
 
pronunciation:
uh thr waIz
part of speech: adverb
definition 1: "Otherwise" means "if things were different." Let's say you tell someone, "I have a piano lesson on Saturday; otherwise, I would play basketball with you." This means that you would play basketball if things were different. If you didn't have a piano lesson, you would play basketball.
I don't understand the homework myself. Otherwise, I would help you with it.I don't have enough money. Otherwise, I would buy this T-shirt for my sister.The chair is very heavy. Otherwise, I could move it myself.
definition 2: "Otherwise" means "in other ways." If you made one mistake, but otherwise your test was perfect, it means that in other ways your test was perfect. Except for that one mistake, it was perfect.
The soup is a little too salty. Otherwise it's really good.Ryan fell down at recess and scraped his knee, but otherwise he had a great day.
definition 3: "Otherwise" means "differently" or "in a different way." If your sister likes a movie a lot, but you feel otherwise, it means that you feel in a different way about it. If everybody goes home after school, but you do otherwise, it means you do something different instead of going home.
Andrea may think otherwise, but we all know she has the best singing voice in our class.All the other kids painted cats, dogs, or horses, but Sophie did otherwise. She painted a frog.