can't

Definition

Cannot (negative auxiliary); be unable to; not have the ability to (whether due to lacking relevant strength or skill or knowledge or supplies, or due to logical impossibility, etc).

Etymology

From can + -n't, since 1706 or earlier.

Example Sentences

• "I can’t quite get it to work."
• "Shut up, can’t you?"
• "The butler can’t be the murderer — he can't have killed her — because he was in London that evening."