could've

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could've

/ˈkʊdəv/ Australia, UK, US
/ˈkʊdə/ Australia, UK, US
/ˈkɵdəv/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈkɵdə/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈkʉdəv/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
/ˈkʉdə/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Rhymes with -ʊdəv

verb

abbreviation, contraction Contraction of could + have. We could've missed the bus, but we just caught it.
Similar: coulda

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: could have, help, take, have, brainwash, come, deal, enough, fresh, get, hand, handing, like, liked, nothing, science

Translations

Every language

verb contraction

Español	(él) pudo haber, (él) podía haber, (él) podría haber, pudiese/pudiera haber, (él) hubo podido, (él) había podido

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Cite this

MLA

"could've." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/could've. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

could've. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/could've

Chicago

"could've." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/could've.

BibTeX

@misc{could_ve_2026,
  title = {could've},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/could've},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}