Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

only if

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.96 in modern English

Syllables: on-ly if
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

conj

Not unless; used to introduce a necessary condition.

Example Sentences

"The company will succeed only if it has sufficient backing."
"Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them."
"1965 June 4, John W. Tukey, Data Analysis and the Frontiers of Geophysics, in Science New Series, 148(3675), page 1288, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-8075%2819650604%293%3A148%3A3675%3C1283%3ADAATFO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N This is a somewhat paradoxical conclusion, and we can be happy to learn that it follows only if we can trust, precisely and in detail, the assumed way in which the probability of occurrence of a deviation decreases as the size of that deviation increases."
"This option is available only if the client supports it."

Phrases

if and only if

Questions

What does only if mean?: Not unless; used to introduce a necessary condition.

How to pronounce only if

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “only if”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “only if”.
Repeat and practice — Say “only if” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.