weren't

American

[wurnt, wur-uhnt] / wɜrnt, ˈwɜr ənt /

contraction of were not: Weren't you surprised?

weren't British

/ wɜːnt /

contraction

were 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.

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.

But the ports on the Red Sea weren’t built for phosphate trade.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

The bots also weren’t great at deciphering things like maps.

From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026

I felt like we deserve to win, but we just weren't clinical in front of goal.

From BBC • May 12, 2026

There were other times we might disagree about something about discovery in a case, but I never had reason to think that they weren’t being truthful with me.

From Slate • May 12, 2026

There weren’t many repair problems he hadn’t encountered.

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