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gotta

American

[got-uh] / ˈgɒt ə /

Informal.

got to; have got to.

I can’t stay—I gotta get up early tomorrow.
got a; have got a.

Hey, man, gotta light?

gotta British

/ ˈɡɒtə /

verb

got to

"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

Usage

See get.

Etymology

Origin of gotta

First recorded in 1885–90 in spelling gotter, representing the r-less British pronunciation of the phrase (have) got to or (have) got a in continuous rapid speech

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.

“We were just hanging out in New York. She’s single, I gotta show her the streets a little bit,” Wilson said on Friday.

From Los Angeles Times

“There’s a truck on top of the cellar that we gotta move, but don’t worry. Damnedest thing—it landed right side up, not a scratch on it, keys in the ignition.”

From Literature

“Gotta become a man sometime, isn’t it, though?” my dad responded.

From Literature

She smiled, teasing, “There’s gotta be something here for you, Mariah. Besides, you can’t have only one defining personality trait.”

From Literature

"Sorry I can't hang out today, I gotta see what's happening with choclatina and strawberto," Larson wrote under a TikTok post, which she later deleted after backlash from fans.

From BBC

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