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couldn't

American

[kood-nt] / ˈkʊd nt /

contraction of could not.

couldn't British

/ ˈkʊdənt /

contraction

could not

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

couldn't Idioms

More idioms and phrases containing couldn't

can't
hurt a flea, couldn't

Usage

See care, contraction.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

couldn't

Then, she says, thick black smoke filled the classroom: "I couldn't even see the pupils I was holding in my arms. We couldn't breathe."

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Even bulls couldn’t ignore that kind of revision.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

And Bowie couldn’t be any better being awful.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

I asked why the limit was so low, but they couldn’t give me an explanation.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

She couldn’t let Maggie get hurt the way she had.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023