See can't help but on Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "can't help but",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "couldn't help but",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "can't<can't,-,couldn't,-> help but"
},
"expansion": "can't help but (third-person singular simple present can't help but, no present participle, simple past couldn't help but, no past participle)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "cannot but"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1988 June 10, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “May the Formula Be With You”, in Chicago Reader:",
"text": "Nevertheless, now that his latest fantasy epic has confirmed my nonexpectations, I can't help but wonder why Willow has been getting such a drubbing from the same reviewers who responded to the early Lucas mega-hits with such enthusiasm.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2005 March 14, Linda Wagner, Faithful to My Heart, West Conshohocken: Infinity Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:",
"text": "“I hate being the youngest and the only gold-star lesbian. It's so cliché. Like some of you, I've thought about giving the other side a try. You really can't help but wonder what it's like.[…]”",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2008 February 15, Megan McArdle, “Piracy: a symphony of spontaneous order”, in The Atlantic:",
"text": "There's an old joke that I used to hear occasionally on British television shows: \"It's not theft—it's socialism!\" I couldn't help but think of it repeatedly as I read this paper on self-organizing institutional arrangements among pirates, which bears some disturbing similarities to an hours-long anarcho-capitalist bull session.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Harry Hill, Livin' the Dreem: A Year in My Life, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 124:",
"text": "'Glasses are so two thousand and late,' he says. 'Is it a deal-breaker?' I ask. 'No, but would you do it as a favour to me?' I couldn't help but be affected by the passion in his voice, so albeit reluctantly I booked an appointment with ...",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020, Anika Gupta, How to Handle a Crowd: The Art of Creating Healthy and Dynamic Online Communities, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:",
"text": "So I can't help but think this idea has bled over into society, where both white and nonblack people of color (NBPOC) have bought into it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 April 7, Sophie Gilbert, “The Most-Watched Show in America Is a Moral Failure”, in The Atlantic:",
"text": "The point is virality—content so outlandish that people can’t help but talk about it.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative form of cannot but."
],
"id": "en-can't_help_but-en-verb-s4bQGoQQ",
"links": [
[
"cannot but",
"cannot but#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"alt-of",
"alternative",
"no-past-participle",
"no-present-participle"
]
}
],
"word": "can't help but"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "can't help but",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "couldn't help but",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "can't<can't,-,couldn't,-> help but"
},
"expansion": "can't help but (third-person singular simple present can't help but, no present participle, simple past couldn't help but, no past participle)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "cannot but"
}
],
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1988 June 10, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “May the Formula Be With You”, in Chicago Reader:",
"text": "Nevertheless, now that his latest fantasy epic has confirmed my nonexpectations, I can't help but wonder why Willow has been getting such a drubbing from the same reviewers who responded to the early Lucas mega-hits with such enthusiasm.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2005 March 14, Linda Wagner, Faithful to My Heart, West Conshohocken: Infinity Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:",
"text": "“I hate being the youngest and the only gold-star lesbian. It's so cliché. Like some of you, I've thought about giving the other side a try. You really can't help but wonder what it's like.[…]”",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2008 February 15, Megan McArdle, “Piracy: a symphony of spontaneous order”, in The Atlantic:",
"text": "There's an old joke that I used to hear occasionally on British television shows: \"It's not theft—it's socialism!\" I couldn't help but think of it repeatedly as I read this paper on self-organizing institutional arrangements among pirates, which bears some disturbing similarities to an hours-long anarcho-capitalist bull session.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2010, Harry Hill, Livin' the Dreem: A Year in My Life, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 124:",
"text": "'Glasses are so two thousand and late,' he says. 'Is it a deal-breaker?' I ask. 'No, but would you do it as a favour to me?' I couldn't help but be affected by the passion in his voice, so albeit reluctantly I booked an appointment with ...",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020, Anika Gupta, How to Handle a Crowd: The Art of Creating Healthy and Dynamic Online Communities, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:",
"text": "So I can't help but think this idea has bled over into society, where both white and nonblack people of color (NBPOC) have bought into it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 April 7, Sophie Gilbert, “The Most-Watched Show in America Is a Moral Failure”, in The Atlantic:",
"text": "The point is virality—content so outlandish that people can’t help but talk about it.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative form of cannot but."
],
"links": [
[
"cannot but",
"cannot but#English"
]
],
"tags": [
"alt-of",
"alternative",
"no-past-participle",
"no-present-participle"
]
}
],
"word": "can't help but"
}
Download raw JSONL data for can't help but meaning in All languages combined (3.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.