Word.ws English Dictionary

cannot

Syllables: can·not/ˈkænɑt//ˈkænɒt/

cannot verb: can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc.).

Verb

cannot

  1. Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc.).
    • I cannot open the window. It is stuck.
    • The butler cannot be the murderer, he cannot have killed her, because he was in another city at the time.
  2. Be forbidden or not permitted to.
    • The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the...1668 December 19, James Dalrymple, “Mr. Alexander Seaton contra Menzies” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), page 575
    • The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10

Noun

cannot (plural cannots)

  1. Something that cannot be done.
    • the cans and cannots
  2. A person who cannot do (something).

cannot meaning in Malayalam, Arabic, Thai and Vietnamese

cannot in Malayalam

cannot, impossible
വഹിയാ vahiyā

cannot in Arabic

cannot — see also can, not
عَجَزَ ʕajaza, لَا يَسْتَطِيع lā yastaṭīʕ

cannot in Thai

cannot — see also can, not
...ไม่ได้ ...mâi dâai, ...ไม่เป็น ...mâi bpen

cannot in Vietnamese

cannot — see also can, not
có thể không

Examples of cannot in a sentence

  • A singular experiment cannot be regarded as scientific proof of the existence of a phenomenon.
  • I cannot square the results of the experiment with my hypothesis.
  • Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot.

All 40 example sentences with cannot

Synonyms of cannot

Forms of cannot

Verb
alternative Geordiecannet
alternative Geordiecannit
alternative uncommoncan not
Noun
pluralcannots

Origin of cannot

From Middle English can not, cannot, cannouȝt, etc. (compare Old English ne cann), equivalent to can + not.

Phrases with cannot

13 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cannot

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cannot

What does cannot mean?
Cannot means can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc.).
What is cannot in Malayalam?
Cannot in Malayalam is വഹിയാ (vahiyā). See Cannot meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is cannot?
Cannot can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce cannot?
Cannot is pronounced /ˈkænɒt/ (UK).

Words near cannot in the dictionary

  1. cannonries
  2. cannonry
  3. cannons
  4. Cannons Creek
  5. Cannonsville
  6. cannot
  7. cannot away with
  8. cannot but
  9. cannot help
  10. cannot help but
  11. cannot live with them, cannot live without them

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cannot (page history and authors); വഹിയാ (Malayalam) (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)-Back ache-cannot.wav, en-us-cannot.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cannot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cannot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.