Pronunciations (2)
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/ɪf/
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/ɪv/
Conjunction
Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false.
- Examples
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I'll do it next week if I have time.
I'll come only if you do the driving.
More examples (3)
Fetch me a cold beer if there's one in the fridge.
If I give you the money, will you buy it for me?
If you prefer, I can come tomorrow instead.
Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false. A keyword that invokes conditional processing: in the event that a given condition is true, execute the given statement(s) (otherwise execute other statements).
- Examples
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if A then B else C
Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition.
- Examples
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If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't know.
If I was rich, I'd live in a big house by the sea.
More examples (1)
She could have used my car if the battery hadn't been flat.
Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition. Even if; even in the circumstances that.
Usage- excessive
- usually
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I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.
You're finishing your chowder if you sit there all afternoon!
More examples (2)
“Wait a minute!” said the girl: “I wouldn’t hurry by, if it was you that was coming out to be hung, the next time eight o’clock struck, Bill. I’d walk round and round the place till I dropped, if the snow was on the ground, and I hadn’t a shawl to cover me.”
If it’s the last thing I do / If it takes me from Tubilo to Timbuktu / If it’s the last thing I do / I’m gonna dodge every road block, speed trap, county cop / To get my hands on you / If it’s the last thing I do.
Considering the fact that; given that; introducing a condition that is known to be true.
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The drain's blocked — and if the drain's blocked, the water won't flow.
O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare?
When; whenever; every time that.
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If you heat water to 100° C, it boils.
If it rains, it pours.
Although; used to introduce a concession; may..but.
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He was a great friend, if a little stingy at the bar.
She won her team's admiration, if not the award, for her performance.
More examples (1)
Both Spear & Davis were indicted in the witchhunt surrounding the sensational (if nonexistent) "Revere sex ring."
Whether; used to introduce a noun clause, an indirect question, that functions as the direct object of certain verbs.
Usage- proscribed
- sometimes
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I don't know if I want to go or not.
Quoth Matthew, “ […] / She doubts if two and two make four, / […] ”
More examples (1)
It is doubtful if the Victorian Londoner needed any warning, for the artful mobsmen, toolers, whizzers and dippers, together with their stickman accomplices, were everywhere in the crowds, in the underground, on railway trains […]
Introducing a relevance conditional; in case.
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I have leftover cake if you want some.
If you want to go home, I have the car keys.
While; used to introduce a contrast.
Usage- Rare
- Examples
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If his Russian was music, his English was murder.
If the outcome of the land war on the Eastern Front is usually seen as decisive, historical views on the importance of the air war are mixed.
More examples (5)
If the Russians out-produced the Japanese in individual units, the Japanese out-produced the USSR in terms of technological quality.
If the Americans knew how they wanted to use strategic air power but not what to attack, the British had a huge number of plans about what to attack but almost no means to adequately deliver the necessary blow.
If the Poles resisted imperial rule, the Ukrainians threatened the unity of the “reunified” Catherinian empire by claiming an identity distinct from the Russian.
If the collapse of the USSR was sudden and largely bloodless, growing strains between its two largest successors would develop into limited fighting in the Donbas in 2014 and then into all-out warfare in 2022, causing death, destruction, and a refugee crisis on a scale not seen in Europe since the Second World War.
If the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 and World War I spelled the end of the Porte as an imperial power, its former Balkan possessions were the scene of the Yugoslav wars of 1991–2001, which coincided with the disintegration of the USSR.
Noun
An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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The board can't approve this project; there are too many ifs.
More examples (3)
1709, Susannah Centlivre, The Busy Body, Act III, in John Bell (ed.), British Theater, J. Bell (1791), page 59, Sir Fran. Nay, but Chargy, if——— ¶ Miran. Nay, Gardy, no Ifs.——Have I refus'd three northern lords, two British peers, and half a score knights, to have put in your Ifs?
Well might Bergman add, (in his Sciographia,), “if the compariſon that has been made, &c. be juſt.” The preſent writer makes no ifs about the matter, and has ſuperadded a little inaccuracy of his own, […]
Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat.