couldn't be more different in English

Forms: couldn't have been more different [past, perfect] [Show additional information ▼] [Hide additional information ▲]

Etymology: An ironic phrase meaning how something is completely different to another entity. Head templates: {{head|en|phrase|past perfect|couldn't have been more different}} couldn't be more different (past perfect couldn't have been more different)

[Show JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▼] [Hide JSON for postprocessed kaikki.org data shown on this page ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "An ironic phrase meaning how something is completely different to another entity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "couldn't have been more different",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "perfect"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "3": "past perfect",
        "4": "couldn't have been more different"
      },
      "expansion": "couldn't be more different (past perfect couldn't have been more different)",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English negative polarity items",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              32
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Japan couldn't be more different than the United States.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two entities that have virtually nothing in common."
      ],
      "id": "en-couldn't_be_more_different-en-phrase-Y8jQKeXn",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Two entities that have virtually nothing in common."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "couldn't be more different"
}

[Show JSON for raw wiktextract data ▼] [Hide JSON for raw wiktextract data ▲]

{
  "etymology_text": "An ironic phrase meaning how something is completely different to another entity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "couldn't have been more different",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "perfect"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase",
        "3": "past perfect",
        "4": "couldn't have been more different"
      },
      "expansion": "couldn't be more different (past perfect couldn't have been more different)",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English negative polarity items",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              32
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Japan couldn't be more different than the United States.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Two entities that have virtually nothing in common."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Two entities that have virtually nothing in common."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "couldn't be more different"
}

Download raw JSONL data for couldn't be more different meaning in English (1.1kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-05-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-05-20 using wiktextract (e937b02 and f1c2b61). 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.

"couldn't be more different" meaning in English

Phrase