Word.ws English Dictionary

could but hope

could but hope is the simple past of can but hope.

Meaning of can but hope

Verb

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

  1. (UK, dated, no-past-participle, no-present-participle) To be unable to do anything (about something) other than hope [with that (+ clause); or (informal) with clause; or with so or (negative) not]; especially with long odds.
    • We can but hope that he returns alive.

Questions about could but hope

What is could but hope the simple past of?
Could but hope is the simple past of can but hope.

Words near could but hope in the dictionary

  1. coulage
  2. coulages
  3. Coulby
  4. could
  5. could be written on the back of a postage stamp
  6. could but hope
  7. could care fewer
  8. could care less
  9. could do
  10. could do with
  11. could eat the arse out of a low flying duck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: could but hope (page history and authors); can but hope (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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