"can't even" meaning in English

See can't even in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈkænt ˌiːvən/, /ˈkɑːnt ˌiːvən/ Audio: En-au-can't even.ogg [Australia] Forms: can't even [present, singular, third-person], couldn't even [past]
Etymology: An aposiopesis of "(I) can't even believe it", "can't even process it" or some comparable expression. Head templates: {{en-verb|can't even|-|couldn't even|-}} can't even (third-person singular simple present can't even, no present participle, simple past couldn't even, no past participle)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can’t, even. Tags: no-past-participle, no-present-participle Related terms: I can't, unable to can
    Sense id: en-can't_even-en-verb-~qhhPGaY
  2. (slang) Without a following verb, as an expression of aporia: to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation. Tags: no-past-participle, no-present-participle, slang
    Sense id: en-can't_even-en-verb-c5oBgkGu Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 12 88

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for can't even meaning in English (2.3kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "An aposiopesis of \"(I) can't even believe it\", \"can't even process it\" or some comparable expression.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "can't even",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "couldn't even",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "can't even",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "couldn't even",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "can't even (third-person singular simple present can't even, no present participle, simple past couldn't even, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He’s nine years old, and can’t even tie his own shoelaces!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can’t, even."
      ],
      "id": "en-can't_even-en-verb-~qhhPGaY",
      "links": [
        [
          "can’t",
          "can’t#English"
        ],
        [
          "even",
          "even#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "88 12",
          "word": "I can't"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "88 12",
          "word": "unable to can"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "12 88",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Oh my God, I got cheap tickets to the Beyoncé concert! I can’t even!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Without a following verb, as an expression of aporia: to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-can't_even-en-verb-c5oBgkGu",
      "links": [
        [
          "aporia",
          "aporia#English"
        ],
        [
          "unable",
          "unable"
        ],
        [
          "express",
          "express"
        ],
        [
          "feelings",
          "feeling#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "overwhelming",
          "overwhelming#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Without a following verb, as an expression of aporia: to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkænt ˌiːvən/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːnt ˌiːvən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-can't even.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "can't even"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "An aposiopesis of \"(I) can't even believe it\", \"can't even process it\" or some comparable expression.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "can't even",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "couldn't even",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "can't even",
        "2": "-",
        "3": "couldn't even",
        "4": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "can't even (third-person singular simple present can't even, no present participle, simple past couldn't even, no past participle)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "I can't"
    },
    {
      "word": "unable to can"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He’s nine years old, and can’t even tie his own shoelaces!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can’t, even."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "can’t",
          "can’t#English"
        ],
        [
          "even",
          "even#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Oh my God, I got cheap tickets to the Beyoncé concert! I can’t even!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Without a following verb, as an expression of aporia: to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "aporia",
          "aporia#English"
        ],
        [
          "unable",
          "unable"
        ],
        [
          "express",
          "express"
        ],
        [
          "feelings",
          "feeling#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "overwhelming",
          "overwhelming#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "situation",
          "situation"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) Without a following verb, as an expression of aporia: to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "no-past-participle",
        "no-present-participle",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkænt ˌiːvən/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɑːnt ˌiːvən/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-can't even.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8f/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/En-au-can%27t_even.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "can't even"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). 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.