Word.ws English Dictionary

couldn't help

couldn't help is the simple past of can't help.

Meaning of can't help

Verb

can't help (third-person singular simple present can't help, no present participle, simple past couldn't help, no past participle)

  1. (idiomatic, no-past-participle, no-present-participle) To be unable to avoid a situation, or stop something from happening.
    • I can't help crying whenever I see Romeo and Juliet.

Questions about couldn't help

What is couldn't help the simple past of?
Couldn't help is the simple past of can't help.

Words near couldn't help in the dictionary

  1. couldn't catch a cold
  2. couldn't even
  3. couldn't get enough
  4. couldn't happen to a nicer
  5. couldn't have cared less
  6. couldn't help
  7. couldn't help but
  8. couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery
  9. couldn't organise a chook raffle
  10. couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
  11. couldn't organise a two-ticket raffle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: couldn't help (page history and authors); can't help (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: “couldn't help.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/couldn%27t_help. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.