unless

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unless

/ənˈlɛs/
/ʌnˈlɛs/
/ʊnˈlɛs/ Northern England
/ɪnˈlɛs/ US, nonstandard

Rhymes with -ɛs

Where it comes from

From Middle English unlesse, earlier on lesse (modern on + less), from (not) on lesse (than) (“(not) on a less compelling condition (than)”). The quality of negation in the word and the lack of stress changed on to un-.

conjunction unlesse · unlessen

Except on a specified condition; if not. I’m leaving unless I get a pay rise.
If not; used with counterfactual conditionals. Who would know of Alexander or Caesar, or would respect the Stoics or the Peripatetics, unless they had been distinguished by the memorials of writers?
Except if; used with hypothetical conditionals. Q. If Lieutenant P. had given the word "Fire," would you have fired, and at what?—A. I should not have known, unless he had told me what to fire at.

Opposite: if

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: absence, among, before, below, besides, but, exc, except, exception, excluding, least, lest, minus, only, safe, save

conjunction

Opposite: if

Translations

Every language

conj except on a specified condition

Español	a menos que, a no ser que, salvo, como no
한국어	...이 아니면 ...i animyeon
日本語	もし...でなければ moshi ... de nakereba
中文	除非 chúfēi
हिन्दी	जब तक jab tak
Português	a menos que, a não ser que
Français	à moins que, sauf si
Deutsch	es sei denn
Italiano	a meno che, se non
Ελληνικά	εκτός αν ektós an, παρά μόνο αν pará móno an
Română	cu excepția cazului în
Русский	е́сли не jésli ne, ра́зве что rázve što
Tiếng Việt	trừ phi, trừ khi
العربية	إِلَّا ʔillā
עברית	אלמלא ilmalé, אלא אם כן ela im ken

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MLA

"unless." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/unless. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

unless. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/unless

Chicago

"unless." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/unless.

BibTeX

@misc{unless_2026,
  title = {unless},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/unless},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}