to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to.
She can solve the problem easily, I'm sure.
to know how to.
He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it.
to have the power or means to.
A dictator can impose his will on the people.
to have the right or qualifications to.
He can change whatever he wishes in the script.
may; have permission to.
Can I speak to you for a moment?
to have the possibility.
A coin can land on either side.
a sealed container for food, beverages, etc., as of aluminum, sheet iron coated with tin, or other metal.
a can of soup.
a receptacle for garbage, ashes, etc..
a trash can.
a bucket, pail, or other container for holding or carrying liquids.
water can.
a drinking cup; tankard.
a metal or plastic container for holding film on cores or reels.
Slang. jail.
He's been in the can for a week.
Slang: Sometimes Vulgar. buttocks.
Slang. cans, a set of headphones designed to cover the ears.
Military Slang.
a depth charge.
a destroyer.
to preserve by sealing in a can, jar, etc.
Slang. to dismiss; fire.
Slang. to throw (something) away.
Slang. to put a stop to.
Can that noise!
to record, as on film or tape.
carry the can, to take the responsibility.
in the can, recorded on film; completed.
The movie is in the can and ready for release.
canceled.
canon.
canto.
Canada.
Canadian.
a container, esp for liquids, usually of thin sheet metal
a petrol can
beer can
another name (esp US) for tin
Also called: canful. the contents of a can or the amount a can will hold
a slang word for prison
a slang word for toilet or buttocks See toilet
navy a slang word for destroyer
slang navy a depth charge
a shallow cylindrical metal container of varying size used for storing and handling film
informal a complicated problem
See carry
(of a film, piece of music, etc) having been recorded, processed, edited, etc
informal arranged or agreed
the contract is almost in the can
to put (food, etc) into a can or cans; preserve in a can
slang (tr) to dismiss from a job
informal (tr) to stop (doing something annoying or making an annoying noise) (esp in the phrase can it! )
informal (tr) to reject or discard
used as an auxiliary to indicate ability, skill, or fitness to perform a task
I can run a mile in under four minutes
used as an auxiliary to indicate permission or the right to something
can I have a drink?
used as an auxiliary to indicate knowledge of how to do something
he can speak three languages fluently
used as an auxiliary to indicate the possibility, opportunity, or likelihood
my trainer says I can win the race if I really work hard
Canada
Canadian
Can but and cannot but are formal and now somewhat old-fashioned expressions suggesting that there is no possible alternative to doing something. Can but is equivalent to can only: We can but do our best. Cannot but is the equivalent of cannot help but: We cannot but protest against these injustices. See also help.
Can1 and may1 are frequently but not always interchangeable in senses indicating possibility: A power failure can (or may ) occur at any time. Despite the insistence by some, that can means only “to be able” and may means “to be permitted,” both are regularly used in seeking or granting permission: Can (or May ) I borrow your glue gun? You can (or may ) use it tomorrow. Sentences using can occur chiefly in spoken English. May in this sense occurs more frequently in formal contexts: May I address the court, Your Honor? In negative constructions, can't or cannot is more common than may not : You can't have it today. I need it myself. The contraction mayn't is rare.
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English, present indicative singular 1st, 3rd person of cunnan “to know, know how”; cognate with German, Old Norse, Gothic kann; see ken, know 1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English canne, can(e), Old English canne, cognate with German Kanne, Old Norse kanna, all perhaps from West Germanic; compare Late Latin canna “small vessel”
A can is a metal container, usually cylindrical in shape, which has an airtight seal when it's new. All kinds of goods come in cans, from fruit and vegetables to paint and oil. The verb can means to preserve food in a can or glass jar. If your garden produces more tomatoes than you can possibly eat, you might make salsa and can it to eat all winter long. Can is also a slang word with several meanings. It means rear end, toilet, and it also means to fire someone: "Watch out, the boss canned three people yesterday! You could be next."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“You can connect to the pipe and listen and detect where potentially you have a leak because there’s water flowing,” Collins said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Or, you can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2026
"I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team," James said in a lengthy post on social media.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
But as West Hollywood discovered this month, sometimes the pipes rupture well before help can arrive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The Japanese Armed Forces have flooded into the school, looking for contraband, and she wants to warn as many people as she can.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
"I have dedicated my life to trying to honour my daughter's legacy and help others wherever I can. To support children and families facing childhood cancer."
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
It reads: “It’s like an AP honors U.S. history book packed onto a can. Not a tiny Euro can… an American-size 16oz can!”
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
“If you’re out there and able to help in any way no matter how big or small please do. Check in on your neighbors. Give what you can. Spread aloha,” he concluded the post.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026
"I tried to look out in the ocean as many times as I can. I love being out here," said Morikawa, of the delay.
From Barron's ● Feb. 15, 2026
“It can. The glamry blade is its proper name.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
When the apartment finally went quiet, I opened my Notes app and typed: “You. Can. Have. It. All.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Max Dufour Montreal, Can., backside 360 kickflip tail grab to fakie 3.
From Time Magazine Archive
Salt and brackish places, on the coast from Can. to Va., along the Great Lakes, and far westward.—Var. littoràle, Gray.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa
Can., 56., says that by the canon law, he that is archipresbyter is also called dean.
From Notes and Queries, Number 231, April 1, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George
If, however, there is soreness of the throat, redness and soreness of the tonsils, palate, and fauces, or soreness of the larynx, with hoarseness, Arum triphyllum and Hydrastus Can. are the surest remedies.
From An Epitome of the Homeopathic Healing Art Containing the New Discoveries and Improvements to the Present Time by Hill, B. L. (Benjamin L.)
The floors of the towers are still littered with empty cans of European-made spray paint made for graffiti artists, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Admins now zoom in on aluminum cans to cross-reference dent patterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
While fans of craft beer are often willing to pay more, consumers of Boston Beer’s hard Twisted Tea are so sensitive to that sub-$10 price point that the company made a four-pack of 16-ounce cans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Rationing is widespread and many areas have banned the use of jerry cans.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
It is unbelievable the number of cans you can find by just walking around.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
“The beauty of this is if society would understand how much bigger the cost is from the failure of infrastructure we could finally invest more money in keeping up our infrastructure as we should.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
“I think that that’s relatively unlikely, at least in the near term, unless there’s a chance that it could potentially help him in the midterm.”
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
East Wales and most of England could easily see temperatures between 30-35C, increasing the chance that a fourth heatwave could be declared.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
There's scant to no clinical evidence supporting such promises, and doctors have voiced concern that endorsing weakly understood if trendy substances could direct patients away from treatments backed by evidence.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Imagine you could click open the top of your head and lift your brain out.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
The headline on the front page of the Daily Star reads: "Andy: I have a cunning plan..."
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The story of the “Wooden Horse,” as most translations call it, gets only brief references in Homer’s epic, cited in passing as an example of Odysseus’s cunning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
He is cunning, not intelligent — something he unwittingly proves every time he claims that passing a basic mental competency test shows his brilliance.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
When free agency opens Tuesday, Pelinka is just going to have to show us how creative he can be, how clever and cunning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
From up here, it felt like looking out over a fantasy world, a world wrought by Dwarvish cunning and Elven magic.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
It was his idea to organize a food drive on Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon in the school parking lot, encouraging anyone and everyone to bring canned goods to help out his community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
He’s pretty strong, so he’s capable of lifting lots of canned goods, but he’ll have the whole football team on hand for support.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
"The demand for water and canned goods has increased since this morning amid fears that services or supply chains will be affected," Kuwait resident Hassan Rayan, 61, said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
Distillers might be reluctant to come up with a rival product because canned cocktails have lower profit margins than large bottles of spirits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
“Still got some canned stuff. Not much variety, but what are you gonna do?”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The Kiribati government says it is expanding the country's own tuna processing and canning facilities rather than just selling licences to foreign ships.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
While the canning process preserved the outer structure of the worms, it destroyed the internal features scientists would need to identify specific species.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026
Chicken of the Sea International is studying whether the ruling could help revive production at a Georgia canning plant that relies on imported tuna.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026
Like many canners, Dash relies on canning to make ends meet, but it is not his only income.
From Slate ● Nov. 27, 2024
Sweet-smelling peaches simmered on the stove in one huge pot while canning jars bubbled away in another pot.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
