or what

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Idioms and Phrases

A phrase following a statement that adds emphasis or suggests an option. For example, in Is this a good movie or what? the phrase asks for confirmation or agreement. However, it also may ask for an alternative, as in Is this book a biography or what? In the 1700s it generally asked for a choice among a series of options, and it still has this function, as in In what does John excel? in imagination? in reasoning powers? in mathematics? or what?

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“He’s beating running backs to the holes at times,” Malloe said, “or what looks like he’s slipping blocks, he’s actually moving one block over from the guy that’s supposed to get him, so his instincts are really, really good.”

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“People are doing really, really hard jobs and working really hard, and it’s very hard to focus and do your work when you’re not sure day to day if you’re still going to be there, or to feel like things are happening and you don’t know why or what may happen.”

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The arguments involved a lot of legalese about "burden" versus "coercion," or what constitutes a "sincerely held" religious belief.

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"They shine as brightly on screen as they do in person, never compromising who they are or what they stand for," he said.

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"That could undermine someone, no matter how papal he is or what he does, he will be seen simply as an African Pope."

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Orwellian or whatever

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