"could" meaning in All languages combined

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "chud"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "could care less"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "could not get elected dogcatcher"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "could use"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "could've"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "english": "negative form of could",
      "word": "couldn't"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵneh₃-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "coude"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English coude",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cūþe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cūþe",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "could",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "can"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "should"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "would"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Before I was blind, I could see very well.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "can"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "simple past of can"
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-p5-LUBI8",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I think he could do it if he really wanted to."
        },
        {
          "text": "I wish I could fly!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact)."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-1~DOWMkp",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Could I borrow your coat?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to politely ask for permission to do something."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-RBWCYbpv",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "permission",
          "permission#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Could you proofread this email?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to politely ask for someone else to do something."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-C6MkD0WV",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:",
          "text": "Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "We could rearrange the time if you like.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to show the possibility that something might happen."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-FVPF3peT",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "possibility",
          "possibility#English"
        ],
        [
          "might",
          "might#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "You could try adding more salt to the soup.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to suggest something."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-tqrEA3U1",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Geordie English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1981, Anthony Warner, English Auxiliaries: Structure and History, published 1993, →ISBN, page 222:",
          "text": "I haven't could sleep.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "can"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "past participle of can"
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-verb-v~pfqfvY",
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "obsolete except Geordie",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete except Geordie) past participle of can"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊd/",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰʊd]",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-could.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg/En-us-could.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd/",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰəd]",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʉd/",
      "tags": [
        "Northern-Ireland",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊld/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuːld/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʊd"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "coulde"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "couldst"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "couldest"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "could'st"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "coud"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "cou'd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵneh₃-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "coude"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English coude",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cūþe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cūþe",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "coulds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "could (plural coulds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "39 1 26 14 13 3 3 0",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "38 2 26 13 12 4 3 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "39 2 26 13 13 3 3 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible, page 88:",
          "text": "When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Shushona Novos, The Personal Universal: A Guidebook for Spiritual Evolution, page 395:",
          "text": "Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality."
      ],
      "id": "en-could-en-noun-K5yL4h7Q",
      "links": [
        [
          "potentiality",
          "potentiality"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊd/",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰʊd]",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-could.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg/En-us-could.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd/",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰəd]",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʉd/",
      "tags": [
        "Northern-Ireland",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊld/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuːld/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʊd"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "coulde"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "couldst"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "couldest"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "could'st"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "word": "coud"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "cou'd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English auxiliary verb forms",
    "English auxiliary verbs",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English defective verbs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English irregular simple past forms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English modal verbs",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵneh₃-",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English verb forms",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ʊd",
    "Rhymes:English/ʊd/1 syllable"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "chud"
    },
    {
      "word": "could care less"
    },
    {
      "word": "could not get elected dogcatcher"
    },
    {
      "word": "could use"
    },
    {
      "word": "could've"
    },
    {
      "english": "negative form of could",
      "word": "couldn't"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵneh₃-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "coude"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English coude",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cūþe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cūþe",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "could",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "can"
    },
    {
      "word": "should"
    },
    {
      "word": "would"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Before I was blind, I could see very well.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "can"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "simple past of can"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I think he could do it if he really wanted to."
        },
        {
          "text": "I wish I could fly!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Could I borrow your coat?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to politely ask for permission to do something."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "permission",
          "permission#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Could you proofread this email?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to politely ask for someone else to do something."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:",
          "text": "Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "We could rearrange the time if you like.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to show the possibility that something might happen."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "possibility",
          "possibility#English"
        ],
        [
          "might",
          "might#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "You could try adding more salt to the soup.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "conditional of can",
        "Used to suggest something."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ],
        [
          "suggest",
          "suggest#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English past participles",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Geordie English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1981, Anthony Warner, English Auxiliaries: Structure and History, published 1993, →ISBN, page 222:",
          "text": "I haven't could sleep.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "can"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "past participle of can"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can",
          "can#English"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "obsolete except Geordie",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete except Geordie) past participle of can"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊd/",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰʊd]",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-could.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg/En-us-could.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd/",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰəd]",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʉd/",
      "tags": [
        "Northern-Ireland",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊld/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuːld/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʊd"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "coulde"
    },
    {
      "word": "couldst"
    },
    {
      "word": "couldest"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "could'st"
    },
    {
      "word": "coud"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "cou'd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English auxiliary verb forms",
    "English auxiliary verbs",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English defective verbs",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English irregular simple past forms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English modal verbs",
    "English non-lemma forms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵneh₃-",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English verb forms",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ʊd",
    "Rhymes:English/ʊd/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵneh₃-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "coude"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English coude",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "cūþe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English cūþe",
      "name": "inh"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "coulds",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "could (plural coulds)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1996, Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible, page 88:",
          "text": "When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Shushona Novos, The Personal Universal: A Guidebook for Spiritual Evolution, page 395:",
          "text": "Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "potentiality",
          "potentiality"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊd/",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰʊd]",
      "note": "stressed form"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-could.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg/En-us-could.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-us-could.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kəd/",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[kʰəd]",
      "tags": [
        "unstressed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʉd/",
      "tags": [
        "Northern-Ireland",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kʊld/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/kuːld/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʊd"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "coulde"
    },
    {
      "word": "couldst"
    },
    {
      "word": "couldest"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "could'st"
    },
    {
      "word": "coud"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "cou'd"
    }
  ],
  "word": "could"
}