Word.ws English Dictionary

unable to can

unable to can phrase: rendered utterly speechless or overwhelmed with a situation.

Phrase

unable to can

  1. (humorous, slang) Rendered utterly speechless or overwhelmed with a situation.
    • I literally cannot with William. I will continue to be unable to can with this fool.2016 April 25, Phoebe Robinson, “The Catch Recap: A Bug's Life”, in Vulture, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2023
    • She said: 'This is the peak of the whatsapp mother's cult. I am unable to can lmao.'2020 March 25, Harriet Johnston, “Woman reveals her mother has placed a raw ONION in the corner of every room in the house in a bizarre attempt to ward off coronavirus”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG...

Origin of unable to can

From can't even (“to be unable to express one's feelings about an overwhelming situation”), with the implication that one has lost the capacity of English due to shock.

Questions about unable to can

What does unable to can mean?
Unable to can means rendered utterly speechless or overwhelmed with a situation.
What part of speech is unable to can?
Unable to can is a phrase.

Words near unable to can in the dictionary

  1. unabject
  2. unabjured
  3. unablated
  4. unablauted
  5. unable
  6. unable to can
  7. unabled
  8. unableness
  9. unabler
  10. unables
  11. unablest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unable to can (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: “unable to can.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unable_to_can. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.