Word.ws English Dictionary

can't help but

can't help but is the alternative form of cannot but.

Meaning of cannot but

Verb

cannot but (third-person singular simple present cannot but, no present participle, simple past could not but, no past participle)

  1. (no-past-participle, no-present-participle) To have to; to cannot help; to be unable to do otherwise than.
    • I cannot but applaud your zeal for preserving the purity of our language, both in its expressions and pronunciation, and in correcting the popular errors several of our States are continually falling into with respect to both.1789, Benjamin Franklin, “Letter to Noah Webster, December 26, 1789”, in E. Sargent, editor, The select works of Benjamin Franklin, published 1855, page 498

Forms of can't help but

third-person singular presentcan't help but
pastcouldn't help but

Questions about can't help but

What is can't help but the alternative form of?
Can't help but is the alternative form of cannot but.

Words near can't help but in the dictionary

  1. can't complain
  2. can't do right for doing wrong
  3. can't even
  4. can't get enough
  5. can't help
  6. can't help but
  7. can't lie
  8. can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em
  9. can't live with them and can't live without them
  10. can't live with them, can't live without them
  11. can't park there, mate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: can't help but (page history and authors); cannot but (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “can't help but.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/can%27t_help_but. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.