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.

And yet, most Americans couldn’t tell you what he believes.

From Slate • May 13, 2026

“At 17 you have a license, you could come here alone, but you couldn’t come inside.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

You couldn't repeat what the boys at the Tynie Arms made of all that.

From BBC • May 13, 2026

On a recent spring evening at Loma Alta Park — spruced up by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, since the league’s former home at Farnsworth Park remains unusable — Gardner couldn’t help but smile.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 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