or
conjunction
(used to connect words, phrases, or clauses representing alternatives).
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or
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OR
ORnouna Boolean operator that returns a positive result when either or both operands are positive.
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-or
-ora suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, directly or through Anglo-French, usually denoting a condition or property of things or persons (ardor; honor; horror; liquor; pallor; squalor; torpor; tremor ), sometimes corresponding to qualitative adjectives ending in -id4 (horrid; pallid; squalid; torpid ). A few other words that originally ended in different suffixes have been assimilated to this group (behavior; demeanor; glamour ).
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O.R.
O.R.abbreviationowner's risk.
or
1 American
[awr, er]
/ ɔr, ər /
conjunction
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(used to connect words, phrases, or clauses representing alternatives).
books or magazines; to be or not to be.
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(used to connect alternative terms for the same thing).
the Hawaiian, or Sandwich, Islands.
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(used in correlation).
either … or; or … or; whether … or.
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(used to correct or rephrase what was previously said).
His autobiography, or rather memoirs, will soon be ready for publication.
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otherwise; or else.
Be here on time, or we'll leave without you.
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Logic. the connective used in disjunction.
or
2
American
[awr]
/ ɔr /
preposition
Chiefly Irish, Scot., and English.
or
3
American
[awr]
/ ɔr /
noun
adjective
OR
4
American
[awr]
/ ɔr /
noun
OR
5
American
abbreviation
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Law. on (one's own) recognizance.
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operating room.
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operations research.
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Oregon (approved especially for use with zip code).
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owner's risk.
-or
6
American
-or
7
American
O.R.
8
American
abbreviation
or
1
British
/ ə, ɔː /
conjunction
-
used to join alternatives
apples or pears
apples or pears or cheese
apples, pears, or cheese
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used to join rephrasings of the same thing
to serve in the army, or rather to fight in the army
twelve, or a dozen
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used to join two alternatives when the first is preceded by either or whether
whether it rains or not we'll be there
either yes or no
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a few
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See else
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a poetic word for either or whether as the first element in correlatives, with or also preceding the second alternative
OR
2
British
abbreviation
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operations research
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Oregon
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military other ranks
-or
3
British
suffix
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indicating state, condition, or activity
terror
error
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the US spelling of -our
or
4
British
/ ɔː /
conjunction
preposition
-or
5
British
suffix
or
6
British
/ ɔː /
adjective
Spelling
While the -or spelling of the suffix -or1 is characteristic of American English, there are occasional exceptions, as in advertising copy, where spellings such as colour and favour seek to suggest the allure and exclusiveness of a product. The spelling glamour is somewhat more common than glamor —not actually an instance of -or1, but conformed to it orthographically in the course of the word's history. In British English -our is still the spelling in most widespread use, -or being commonly retained when certain suffixes are added, as in color ation, honor ary, honor ific, labor ious, odor iferous. The English of the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) tends to mirror British practice, whereas Canadian English shares with the U.S. a preference for -or but with -our spellings as freely used variants. The suffix -or2 is now spelled -or in all forms of English, with the exception of the word savior, often spelled saviour in the U.S. as well as in Britain, especially with reference to Jesus.
Usage
Etymology
Origin of or1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English, originally the second, unstressed member of correlative other … or, earlier other … other, Old English āther … oththe, ā-hwæther … oththe, for oththe … oththe either … or; cf. ay 1, whether
Origin of or2
First recorded before 950; Middle English er, ar, or, Old English ār “before, soon, early”; cognate with Old Norse ār “early, anciently, of yore,” Gothic air “soon, early”; compare Old English ǣr “before, soon”; see ere
Origin of or3
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin aurum “gold”
Origin of OR4
1940–45
Origin of -or6
From Latin; in some cases continuing Middle English -our, from Anglo-French, Old French, from Latin -ōr-, stem of -or, earlier -os
Origin of -or7
Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French -o ( u ) r < Latin -ōr-, stem of -or, extracted from -tōr -tor by construing the t as the ending of the past participle (hence Latin factor maker, equivalent to fac ( ere ) to make + -tor, was analyzed as fact ( us ), past participle of facere + -or ); merged with Anglo-French, Old French -ëo ( u ) r < Latin -ātōr- -ator; cf. -eur
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“If we can do it well, why not?... With everything, you want to please the audience, whether it’s a movie, a book, a podcast or a candy bar, and if everybody’s smiling, that’s it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Ukraine's military general staff urged people not to trust unverified reports or spread rumours about "the routes, time and place of the movement of people and humanitarian convoys".
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is the second-largest cause of global warming behind carbon dioxide -- responsible for about a third, or 0.5C, of total planetary heating since the pre-industrial era.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
You don’t know how harshly the previous owner cycled the battery or whether they left it plugged in constantly at 100%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
The officials ask strange questions like “Do you know how to carry a canteen?” or “Have you ever worn a saber?”
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Last Thursday's arrest follows that of a 23-year-old Thai citizen in July, also caught at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, who was attempting to smuggle 418 parrot eggs.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
This happened in Minneapolis on opening night, this happened in Los Angeles, in Portland, OR, in Atlanta, in New York City, in Chicago.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
As the OR doors closed, a nurse handed me a plastic baggie containing my wife’s wedding ring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
His mom was an OR nurse for 10 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2025
Let’s get the OR ready, stat, she says.
From "Booked" by Kwame Alexander
Ms Worrall redirects patients who come into the emergency department, sending them to a pharmacy or the GP if it is the most appropriate place -or to other areas within the hospital.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2023
Approximately 0.5% of Etsy's active sellers -or around 2,700 merchants- had their payments delayed on Friday related to SVB's collapse, according to Etsy.
From Reuters ● Mar. 13, 2023
The fact that they have also been scrubbed from the site possibly indicates the level of caution being used -or simply that whole sections of Afghan-related material were hastily deleted in large batches.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 17, 2021
Does the perfect goal exist outside of a match's context, or does the effect it has on the match -or season, or tournament - act as some sort of multiplication factor?
From BBC ● May 23, 2015
Haymitch is our only hope, but nothing is forthcoming, either from lack of money -everything will cost an exorbitant amount -or because he's dissatisfied with our performance.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Rodriguez, wearing a “Peanuts”-themed cap with his scrubs, made five half-inch incisions throughout her abdomen, while the music of Bruno Mars and Elton John softly played in the O.R.
From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
I, for one, would line up to buy that first book written not under the name O.R.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2023
Jeremiah Watkins — I was on stage in the O.R. and there were like, eight audience members.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2022
Passengers wait to board international flights, amidst the spread of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron, at O.R.
From Reuters ● Dec. 15, 2021
Several biographies have already been published, and that written by the late Reverend R. L. Dabney, D.D., sometime Major in the Confederate army, and Jackson’s 1 Referred to in the text as O.R.
From Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War by G. F. R. Henderson
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