■ if not本来的意义是“如果不是”，但是实际意义往往是“更上一层楼，甚至是…”。
He bullied his opponents and impugned their integrity, if not their patriotism.他威吓对手们，否定他们的正直，甚至否定他们的爱国心。Their behavior was reproachable, if not criminal.他们的行为是恶劣的，甚至是罪恶的。A verdict in favor the tobacco companies would chill, if not freeze, tobacco litigation for a decade.如果判决宣布烟草公司胜诉，今后十年期间，因吸烟问题而打官司的案件将冷却下来，甚至冻结。You can raise a healthy amount—thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars.你们可以筹到一大笔钱，有好几千甚至好几万美元。They're likely to sell WMD to terrorists, if they haven't already.他们很可能把大规模毁灭性武器卖给恐怖分子，甚至也许已经这样做了（注意：由于后面的 not 其实没有否定意义，所以这句中不用 yet 而用 already）。if not 也可以改为 not to say，意义相同。
It is hard, not to say impossible, to tell exactly where the boundary has to be drawn.很难甚至不可能说清楚界线应该划在哪里。目录