Word.ws English Dictionary

oughtn't've

UK/ˈɔːt(ə)n(t)ə(v)/

oughtn't've contraction: ought not to have.

Contraction

oughtn't've

  1. (UK, colloquial, contraction, dialectal) ought not to have
    • "Hell, mebbe we oughtn't've done that." Tony was regretful.2000, Richard Wright, The long dream

Origin of oughtn't've

oughtn't + -'ve.

Questions about oughtn't've

What does oughtn't've mean?
Oughtn't've means ought not to have.
What part of speech is oughtn't've?
Oughtn't've is a contraction.
How do you pronounce oughtn't've?
Oughtn't've is pronounced /ˈɔːt(ə)n(t)ə(v)/ (UK).

Words near oughtn't've in the dictionary

  1. oughteth
  2. Oughtibridge
  3. oughties
  4. oughtism
  5. oughtn't
  6. oughtn't've
  7. oughtness
  8. oughtnesses
  9. oughts
  10. oughtst
  11. oughtta

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oughtn't've (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: “oughtn't've.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oughtn%27t%27ve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.