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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.

Hipolito said he lied because he couldn’t get information on her condition unless he was a relative.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

“If we liked something, we couldn’t walk away and think about it,” Daymen said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

It couldn’t hurt that expectations for future Fed rate changes shifted away from future hikes over the past week.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

Their response made us feel like we couldn’t accept the money.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

Of course Betsie had always seemed older because she couldn’t run and roughhouse the way other children did.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

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