or what?
or what?
Added to a yes-no question as a means of emphasizing that "yes" is the correct answer. Wow, do you two make a cute couple or what? I got you those concert tickets you were yammering on about. Am I good brother, or what?
or what?
a way of adding emphasis to a yes-or-no question the speaker has asked. (In effect, if it wasn't what I said, what is it?) Bob: Now, is this a fine day or what? John: Looks okay to me. Tom: Look at Bill and Mary. Do they make a fine couple or what? Bob: Sure, they look great.
or what?
A phrase following a statement that adds emphasis or suggests an option. For example, in Is this a good movie or what? the phrase asks for confirmation or agreement. However, it also may ask for an alternative, as in Is this book a biography or what? In the 1700s it generally asked for a choice among a series of options, and it still has this function, as in In what does John excel? in imagination? in reasoning powers? in mathematics? or what?
or ˈwhat
(spoken)1 used to emphasize your opinion: Is he stupid or what?
2 used when you are not sure about something: Come on! Are we going or what?
See also: what
or what?
phr. or what else can it be? (Part of a special formula that asks if something is a good example or specimen of something. The expected answer is yes. The question “Is this an X or what?” means “If this isn’t a really great X, what is it then?”) Look at what I am wearing! Is that a great jacket or what?
or what
Informal Used as an intensive at the end of a question: Is he crazy, or what? Are you a genius, or what?
See also: what
or what?
Isn’t that so? This rhetorical question always follows a statement and serves either to emphasize its truth or indicate that its answer is obvious. For example, “Is this fun or what?” says emphatically that this pursuit is fun. As a slangy usage, it dates from the 1960s. However, the phrase can also be the last choice among a series of options, and this usage dates from the mid-1700s. For example, a diary entry by John Adams in 1766 stated, “In what is this man conspicuous? in reasoning? imagination? in painting? in the pathetic? or what?”