or

or [ ɔr ] conjunction ***

1. ) used for showing possibilities or choices used for connecting possibilities or choices. In a list, or is usually used only before the last possibility or choice:

Which color do you want red, green, yellow, or blue?

He's probably at lunch or in a meeting.

either...or: When will you get the results? Either tomorrow or the day after.

whether...or: You don't care whether he lives or dies, do you?

or not: The jury must decide whether the prisoner is guilty or not.

2. ) and not used for including someone or something else in a negative statement:

She's had nothing to eat or drink all day.

I never had any help or advice from my parents.

3. ) used when amounts or numbers are not exact

a ) used between two similar numbers for showing that you do not know what the exact number is:

one or two/two or three/three or four etc.: I can photocopy your notes. It'll only take a minute or two.

The car has to be serviced every five or six thousand miles.

b ) or so used after an amount of time, money, etc. to show that the amount is not exact:

They spent an hour or so searching for the missing file.

It was among the 400 or so pictures Monet painted at Giverny.

4. ) used in warnings, threats, or advice used for saying what will happen if someone does not do something:

The soldiers told everyone to leave or they would be shot.

or else: We must deal with the problem now, or else it will be too late.

You'd better do what I say, or else (=I will do something bad to you).

5. ) used when correcting or explaining what you have said used for introducing a comment that corrects or adds more information to what you have just said:

He spent time in the Soviet labor camps, or Gulags, as they were called.

or rather: This is a problem for the government, or rather for a federal agency, to deal with.

6. ) used when giving a reason for your opinion used when you are trying to show that something must be true, by saying that the situation would be different if it was not true:

The candidate obviously hasn't chosen a running mate or he would have made the announcement.

or else: It must be something serious, or else they wouldn't have radioed for help.

or something/or anything

used for referring to any of a group of things or possibilities without being specific:

Would you like a sandwich or something?

It was a peaceful protest there was no violence or anything.