couldn't

Meanings

1. 1
   contraction

   a contraction of could not, used to express inability, impossibility, or a negative past possibility

   We couldn't see the shore through the fog.

A contraction of could + not. The ending -n't continues a reduced form of not, and the apostrophe marks the omitted vowel; the written l in could is silent by historical analogy with should and would.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images