other

Less common meanings

5. 5
   alternateadjective

   Second, alternate, in 'every other' ('I get paid every other week' = every second week).

   They water the plants every other day.

   Every other house on the street was empty.

   UsageEvery other takes a singular noun: every other day (not incorrect: every other days).

   Similaralternate

   Note

   A trace of the word's oldest meaning: Old English ōþer meant both "other" and "second," and the counting sense lives on in every other. Every other week is every second week, one on and one off, which is why alternate is its natural synonym. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • English other descends from Old English ōþer, which meant both other and second. en.wiktionary.org
   • The historical counting sense survives in every other. en.wikipedia.org
6. 6
   adjective

   In formal or purist use, different, usually followed by 'than'.

   Her reasons were other than she claimed.

   The building is now quite other than it was.

   Similardifferent, unlike, dissimilar, distinct, differing

   Oppositesame

   Note

   A formal, slightly puristic way of saying different, found mostly in careful or philosophical prose.

7. 7
   label as alienverbtransitive

   To treat or portray a person or group as different, alien, or outside one's own group, often shutting them out.

   Films often other the villain by giving him an accent.

   She felt othered by the way they spoke about her.

   UsageOften passive or as othered: she felt othered.

   Note

   A verb built on the noun, now at home in academic writing on race, gender and identity. A Black woman is "othered" by the color of her skin, and people with addictions "are Othered," sometimes capitalized to echo the noun. It covers both a way of seeing a group as alien and the shutting out that follows. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The verb developed from the noun other. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted example describes a Black woman being othered in relation to White women because of her skin color. en.wiktionary.org
   • The addiction example contains the exact wording are Othered, with a capital O. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   alienadjectiveformal

   In formal use, alien or foreign to one's own kind.

   The music sounded other, as if from a different world.

   Their customs were not so other as the travelers had feared.

   UsageAfter a verb, often with completely or wholly, and sometimes from: wholly other from its origins.

   Similarforeign

   Oppositefamiliar

   Note

   Strangeness rather than mere difference: a thing described this way feels foreign to one's own kind.

9. 9
   adverbobsolete

   Otherwise, or in a different way or manner.

   I durst, my lord, to wager she is honest, Lay down my soul at state; if you think other, Remove your thought;

   c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”

   That he knew from Monsieur Meerman, I had been the occasion of giving him any Credit in England of an honest sincere Man, and he would never lose mine upon that occasion by giving the King Cause to believe other of him.

   1740, William Temple, Letters written by Sir William Temple

   Note

   An old adverbial use that follows verbs of thinking and believing: Emilia's "if you think other" in Othello, or "giving the King cause to believe other of him" in a letter of Sir William Temple's. It could run on with than, spelled then in older texts: "who can believe other, then that…." The sense is obsolete. In modern English use otherwise, and read the older form as meaning exactly that. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

   • Other had an obsolete adverbial sense meaning otherwise, attested after thinking and believing. en.wiktionary.org
   • Emilia says “if you think other” in Othello. gutenberg.org
   • The quoted wording occurs in a letter written by Sir William Temple. wythepedia.wm.edu
   • Adverbial other could be followed by than, as in the quoted example. en.wiktionary.org
   • Then was an older spelling of than. en.wiktionary.org
   • The historical adverbial sense is obsolete and means otherwise. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    adjectiveobsolete

    Left rather than right, especially of the hand.

    A diſtaffe in her other hand ſhe had, / Vpon the which ſhe litle ſpinnes, but ſpils, / And faynes to weaue falſe tales and leaſings bad, / To throw amongſt the good, which others had diſprad.

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

    Note

    A way of naming the left hand without naming it, as if the right came first and the remaining hand were simply the other. Spenser's spinner of 1596 holds her distaff in her other hand. The sense is obsolete, so a modern reader should not hear "left" in the other hand today. It now means only the second of two, whichever side that is. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Other formerly meant left, as opposed to right. en.wiktionary.org
    • Spenser describes a female figure holding a distaff in her other hand. en.wikisource.org
    • The part of Spenser's poem containing this passage was first published in 1596. en.wikisource.org
    • The sense meaning left is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org