Word.ws English Dictionary

can wait

can wait verb: a response to can't wait that negates the phrase.

Verb

can wait (third-person singular simple present can wait, no present participle, simple past could wait, no past participle)

  1. (informal, no-past-participle, no-present-participle, sarcastic) A response to can't wait that negates the phrase.
  2. (no-past-participle, no-present-participle) Used to dismiss a concern considered urgent by another party.
    • Could you move, please? I need to get by!
      I'm not done yet. You can wait.

Forms of can wait

third-person singular presentcan wait
pastcould wait

Questions about can wait

What does can wait mean?
Can wait means a response to can't wait that negates the phrase.
What part of speech is can wait?
Can wait is a verb.
What is the past tense of can wait?
The past tense of can wait is could wait.

Words near can wait in the dictionary

  1. can of worms
  2. can opener
  3. can openers
  4. Can Tho
  5. can too
  6. can wait
  7. can we say
  8. can you help me
  9. can you not
  10. can you tell us
  11. can'idate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: can wait (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-can wait.wav.

Cite this entry: “can wait.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/can_wait. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.