51Թ

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cannot

[kan-ot, ka-not, kuh-]

verb

  1. a form of can not.



cannot

/ kæˈnɒt, ˈkænɒt /

verb

  1. an auxiliary verb expressing incapacity, inability, withholding permission, etc; can 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
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Spelling Note

Cannot is sometimes also spelled can not. The one-word spelling is by far the more common: Interest rates simply cannot continue at their present level. The contraction can't is most common in speech and informal writing.
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of cannot1

A Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. cannot but, have no alternative but to.

    We cannot but choose otherwise.

see under can't.
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Compare Meanings

How does cannot compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“I cannot wrap my head around how this could happen,” said Alice Lynn, a therapist who called her Highlands neighborhood, and the broader Palisades community, “forever altered.”

From

The judge ordered that federal agents cannot use those factors to establish reasonable suspicion, as required to detain people.

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That means water cannot escape easily, so its surface heats up quickly in the presence of warm air, sunny skies and light winds - as happened in June.

From

He questioned the Israeli military's statement on the strike, including its expression of regret, saying that it "cannot bring those patients, those beneficiaries back alive".

From

"The UK cannot afford the array of promises that are displayed to the public," based on reasonable assumptions about their cost and growth, he said.

From

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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cannonryThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it