shouldn't

American

[shood-nt] / ˈʃʊd nt /

contraction of should not.

shouldn't British

/ ˈʃʊdənt /

contraction

should 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

Usage

See contraction, ought ¹.

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:

shouldn't

A competent man shouldn’t be presumed incompetent because a stranger on the internet received three bags of parsley.

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

They didn’t succeed, but the authors concluded that we shouldn’t be surprised by this kind of mischief.

From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2026

What is clear is that officials and the public shouldn’t be surprised about coastal flooding this week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026

Spokeswoman Nicola Love said it shouldn't be surprising that women are "disproportionately worried about how they're perceived" when they go to give evidence.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

Recaps shouldn’t turn my stomach anymore, but they still did.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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