on the other hand

English

Alternative forms

• OTOH

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

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Prepositional phrase

on the other hand

1. (sequence, idiomatic) From another point of view.

   Well yes, it was quite a good bargain; on the other hand, do we really need one?

   • 1873, James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism:

     Its external relations, on the one hand to dynamics, and on the other to heat, light, chemical action, and the constitution of bodies, seem to indicate the special importance of electrical science as an aid to the interpretation of nature.

   • [1921 [1919], H. L. Mencken, chapter 1, in The American Language, 2nd edition, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     Thus the study of the language he is supposed to use, to the average American, takes on a sort of bilingual character. On the one hand, he is grounded abominably in a grammar and syntax that have always been largely artificial, even in the country where they are supposed to prevail, and on the other hand he has to pick up the essentials of his actual speech as best he may.]

   • 1950, Bertrand Russell, acceptance speech for Nobel Prize in Literature

     I maintain, however, on the one hand, that there are few occasions upon which large bodies of men, such as politics is concerned with, can rise above selfishness, while, on the other hand, there are a very great many circumstances in which populations will fall below selfishness, if selfishness is interpreted as enlightened self-interest.

   • 1961 January, “The North-East London electrification of the Great Eastern Line”, in Trains Illustrated, page 19:

     The host of business travellers between Bishops Stortford and London would scarcely take kindly to devious routing via the Southbury line; on the other hand, it is not desirable that they should overcrowd the business trains to and from Cambridge.

Synonyms

• but, however, still, then again, yet, conversely, vice versa, on the flipside

Coordinate terms

• on the one hand
• on the gripping hand (fanspeak slang)
• on the third hand (jocular)

Translations

from another point of view

• Albanian: nga ana tjetër
• Arabic: من ناحية أخرى, من جهة أخرى
• Aragonese: d'atra man
• Armenian: մյուս կողմից (myus koġmicʻ)
• Bulgarian: от дру́га страна́ (ot drúga straná)
• Catalan: per altra banda, d'altra banda
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 另一方面 (zh) (lìngyī fāngmiàn), 反過來／反过来 (zh) (fǎnguòlái)

• Czech: na druhou stranu, na druhou stranu, z druhé strany
• Danish: på den anden side
• Dutch: daarentegen (nl), anderzijds (nl)
• Esperanto: aliflanke
• Finnish: toisaalta (fi)
• French: d’un autre côté (fr), en revanche (fr), par contre (fr), cela dit (fr)
• Galician: por outra banda, en troques
• Georgian: მეორე მხრივ (meore mxriv)
• German: auf der anderen Seite, andererseits (de), hingegen (de), zum anderen
• Greek: από την άλλη (apó tin álli), από την άλλη πλευρά (apó tin álli plevrá), αφετέρου (el) (afetérou)
• Hebrew: מֵאִידָךְ גִּיסָא (he) (meiydákh gisá), מִצַּד שֵׁנִי (mitsád shení)
• Hungarian: másrészt (hu), másfelől (hu), viszont (hu)
• Icelandic: hins vegar
• Irish: os a choinne sin, ar an lámh eile
• Italian: dall'altro, dall'altro lato
• Japanese: その反面 (そのはんめん, sono hanmen), 他方 (ja) (たほう, tahō)
• Korean: 또 한편 (tto hanpyeon), 반면에 (banmyeone)
• Latin: contra (la), autem (la)
• Macedonian: од друга страна (od druga strana)
• Maori: manohi, manohi anō, kāpā
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: гын (gyn)

• Norwegian: på den annen side
• Occitan: d'autra banda
• Persian: از طرف دیگر (az taraf-e digar), از سویی دیگر (az suyi digar)
• Polish: z drugiej strony, natomiast (pl)
• Portuguese: por outro lado
• Romanian: pe de altă parte
• Russian: с друго́й стороны́ (ru) (s drugój storoný), (somewhat) зато́ (ru) (zató)
• Scottish Gaelic: air an làimh eile
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: с друге стране, у другу руку

  Roman: s druge strane, u drugu ruku

• Spanish: por otro lado, por otra parte, por contra
• Swedish: å andra sidan (sv), däremot (sv)
• Tagalog: sa kabilang banda
• Turkish: diğer taraftan (tr), ancak (tr), diğer yandan, ne var ki (tr), gel gelelim (tr)
• Ukrainian: з і́ншого боку (z ínšoho boku)
• Vietnamese: mặt khác
• Welsh: ar y llaw arall