other

Less common meanings

5. 5
   alternateadjective

   Every second one, as in 'every other week'.

   We visit my grandparents every other Sunday for a big lunch.

   Trains run every other hour on Sundays.

   UsageUse a singular word after every other: every other day.

   Similaralternate

   Note
6. 6
   adjective

   Different, in formal writing, as in 'wholly other'.

   The result was quite other than we expected.

   He wanted a life wholly other than his father's.

   Similardifferent, unlike, dissimilar, distinct, differing

   Oppositesame

   Note
7. 7
   label as alienverbtransitive

   To treat someone as strange or not one of your own group, and often leave them out.

   The press othered the newcomers from the start.

   It is easy to other people you have never met.

   UsageOften feel othered.

   Note
8. 8
   alienadjectiveformal

   Completely different and strange, in formal writing.

   The desert felt utterly other, like another planet.

   To the villagers the newcomers seemed wholly other.

   UsageUsed after a verb: it felt completely other.

   Similarforeign

   Oppositefamiliar

   Note
9. 9
   adverbobsolete

   An old use meaning 'otherwise', as in 'if you think other'.

   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”Here, other means otherwise, in a different way.

   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 TempleHere, other means otherwise, something different.

   Note
10. 10
    adjectiveobsolete

    An old word for 'left', as in 'her other 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 QueeneHere, other means left, as in her left hand.

    Note