Could

Definition: Could

Could

Verb

1. Expresses possibility; "I could do it by myself".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "could" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Tips from 1870

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonym: Could

Indifference

Phrase: I couldn't care less, I could care less; anything will do; es macht nichts.

Irresolution

Interjection: "how happy could I be with either!".

Repute

Phrase: one's name being in every mouth, one's name living for ever; sic itur ad astra, fama volat, aut Caesar aut nullus; not to know him argues oneself unknown; none but himself could be his parallel, palmam qui meruit ferat.

Unconformity

I could hardly believe it; I saw it, but I didn't believe it.

Crosswords: Could

No, I was just saying that so you could practice (American Pie 2; writing credit: Adam Herz; David H. Steinberg)

Nothing in it. The kind of a face I could fall into (On the Town; writing credit: Adolph Green and Betty Comden)

I was wondering Professor Nash, if I could take you to dinner (A Beautiful Mind; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

Could he be any more pathetic (American Beauty; writing credit: Alan Ball)

Could we move along (The Matrix Reloaded; writing credit: Andy Wachowski; Larry Wachowski)

From here we could crossover like Hardaway (If I Could Go; performing artist: Angie Martinez)

I could work all day and feel right at home (If I Could Make A Living; performing artist: Clay Walker)

And I could not ask for more (I Could Not Ask for More; performing artist: Edwin McCain)

What a tale your thoughts could tell (If You Could Read My Mind; performing artist: Gordon Lightfoot)

I dreamed i could fly (Wish I Could Fly; performing artist: Roxette)

I never could tell a lie that anybody would doubt, nor a truth that anybody would believe. (references; author: Mark Twain)

Do all you should, not all you could. (references; author: unknown)

If money could talk, it would say goodbye. (references; author: unknown)

I wished the buck stopped here, as I could use a few. (references; author: unknown)

If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. (references; author: unknown)

How many cuckoos could a good cook cook if a cook could cook cuckoos. (references; author: unknown)

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (references; author: unknown)

If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)

This Could Be the Night (1993)

Shirley MacLaine: If They Could See Me Now (1974)

I Could Never Have Sex with a Man Who Has So Little Respect for My Husband (1973)

Could This Be Love? (1973)

If Pigs Could Fly (performing artist: Sandy Andina)

If You Could Read My Mind (performing artist: Gordon Lightfoot)

It Could Only Happen On Halloween (performing artist: Gregory's Funhouse)

Could It Be (performing artist: Jaheim)

THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT  (performing artist: Loverboy )

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• And If the Moon Could Talk (reference)

• If Only They Could Speak: Stories About Pets and Their People (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• If These Walls Could Talk 2 (reference)

• It Could Happen to You (reference)

• The Little Horse That Could (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• If I Could Have Something for Christmas (reference)

• Never Could Walk the Line (reference)

• Thought We Could (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

In 1930, Senator Joseph E. Ransdell of Louisiana, convinced that fundamental research could lead to cures for diseases, got his Ransdell Act through Congress. This Act reorganized and expanded the Hygienic Laboratory and renamed it the National Institute of Health. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

Howard Skipper, now retired from Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, explained how chemotherapy could work. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

Treating pets with insecticidal dust to kill fleas that could come into contact with humans can help control the spread of plague bacteria. Credit: CDC.

Puerto Rican boys in water which could contain the agent of bilharzia (schistosomiasis). Credit: CDC.

A survey of galaxy clusters by the Hubble telescope has found what could be some of the most ... Credit: NASA.

Heliotrope used for directing sun's rays to distant observer Used to illuminate station site so far distant observer could measure angles. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

The first picture of a Bilby portable steel tower under construction Bilby towers were made of prefabricated steel parts that could be reused These towers were designed by Jasper Bilby, chief signalman of the C&GS. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.

Young naturalist inspecting a horseshoe crab shell. The carapace was empty. If this was a live animal, picking up by tail could cause injury to the crab. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Increasing expanses of melted snow and ice during the spring melt Weasel checking sea ice landing strip at Oliktok Point - If weasel didn't break ice, ski planes could land. If weasels broke ice, they would float as they were amphibious. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

A mummified seal in an Antarctic dry valley near McMurdo Station. This seal could be hundreds of years old. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

I could not forfeit their lives; they were not mine to forfeit. (Second Treatise of Government)

Could it be the intention of those who gave this power, to say that in using it the constitution should not be looked into? (reference)

A second and more practical, but less systematic, form of this Socialism sought to depreciate every revolutionary movement in the eyes of the working class, by showing that no mere political reform, but only a change in the material conditions of existence, in economic relations, could be of any advantage to them. (reference)

It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. ("Iron Curtain" Speech)

In Sweatt v. Painter, supra, in finding that a segregated law school for Negroes could not provide them equal educational opportunities, this Court relied in large part on "those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness in a law school." (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Nobody could be so imprudent

I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow

Indeed, once, when she turned a corner rather more quickly than usual, she ran against it before she could stop herself

Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and thought, and thought it over and over and over, and could make nothing of it.

Trusting no man as his friend, he could not recognise his enemy when the latter actually appeared

This had filled him with jealousy, and he had done what he could on all occasions to injure Madeleine

Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire

Yet at the end of that immense stretch of time not even one instant of eternity could be said to have ended

He lives that loves thee better than he could.

I wisht I could remember how that piece went

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

They could be lighter. (references)

The flow could be lighter or heavier. (references)

You could get hepatitis C by sharing drug needles. (references)

Business

Leasing could be a useful option. (references)

Competition could came only from other western companies. (references)

In 1998, 1.6 million Dutch users could access the Internet. (references)

Children

Switzerland

By some estimates, implementation costs could reach $19 to $28 million (31 to 47 million Swiss francs) per year. (references)

Suriname

The investigation was dropped by the NGO Moiwana '86 because it could not prove that the Government was the sole entity in charge of the hospital. (references)

Ghana

The resulting plan of action focused on ways that Economic Community of West African States could integrate child protection into ECOWAS peacemaking and peacekeeping initiatives. (references)

Civil Liberties

Mauritania

In some regions, persons lacking identity cards could not travel freely. (references)

Panama

If found guilty, Briceno could face up to 2 years in prison for defamation. (references)

Germany

Firms owned or managed by or employing Scientologists could bid on these contracts. (references)

Economic History

France

A final decision could be made in July. (references)

Bahrain

Privatization could help Bahrain's economy. (references)

Sri Lanka

However, exports could weaken given the US slowdown. (references)

Human Rights

Jamaica

Neither account could be confirmed independently. (references)

Burma

Neither incident could be verified independently. (references)

Lebanon

Bassil could face the death penalty if found guilty. (references)

Indigenous People

Guatemala

The Public Defender's Office began hiring attorneys fluent in indigenous languages and assigning them to areas where they could serve as translators in addition to defending their clients. (references)

Peru

For those who do, there exists the problem that title to land does not include mineral or other subsoil rights; this condition could lead to conflicts between mining interests and indigenous communities. (references)

Guyana

Local Amerindian NGO's regarded government consultations as mere public relations exercises and demarcation as a means of confining Amerindian communities so that the remaining areas that Amerindians considered to be their land could be offered as concessions to miners and loggers. (references)

Minorities

Mexico

This report could not be confirmed. (references)

Hungary

The Orban Government stated that the $128 (30,000 HUF) was all that could be paid out without budget imbalances. (references)

Kuwait

A law passed in June 2000 required bidoon to register by June 27, 2000 to begin a process in which they could be documented as citizens. (references)

Political Economy

CZECH REPUBLIC

Formerly, the CCI could only act in conjunction with the police. (references)

COLOMBIA

With these reforms anybody could hold foreign currency or assets. (references)

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Recovery could come by the second quarter of 2002, at the earliest. (references)

Political Rights

Malaysia

Ballots are marked with a serial number that could be matched against a voter's name. (references)

Lesotho

This judgement encouraged the opposition to charge that errors short of fraud could have affected the results. (references)

Belarus

Lukashenka ignored the Constitutional Court's ruling that the Constitution could not be amended by referendum. (references)

Trade

China

Some 25-30% of US exports to China could be affected. (references)

Bahrain

The customs union implementation date could slip due to ongoing internal GCC differences. (references)

Cyprus

U.S. EXIM Bank financing could also be applied in Cyprus for U.S. source equipment purchases. (references)

Travel

Kenya

They are normally localized, but they could affect tourists. (references)

Guinea

U.S. companies could do well with high volume sales of low priced goods. (references)

Norway

One drink could put a person over the legal limit and could result in a fine. (references)

Women

Afghanistan

The Taliban decreed what women could wear in public. (references)

Algeria

Rape is illegal, and in principle a spouse could be charged under the law. (references)

Chad

The various religious and ethnic communities could not reach any consensus. (references)

Worker Rights

El Salvador

When their parents could not be found, they were turned over to the ISPM. (references)

Syria

Standard labor laws could be applied in the event of allegations of trafficking. (references)

Argentina

Local NGO's note that the figure is imprecise and could be as high as 10 percent. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "could": before you could say jack robinson ♦ could you do me a favour? ♦ could you wake me up at ♦ either could happen ♦ he could do no other than ♦ he could scarcely go ♦ how the deuce could i know? ♦ i could care less ♦ i could eat a horse ♦ i could not care less ♦ i did it how i could ♦ if only you could have seen him! ♦ none but himself could be his parallel ♦ so could i ♦ you could be right ♦ you could say that ♦ you never know what could happen. Additional references.

Beginning with "could": could-er, could-have-beens, could-if, could-perhaps, could-ridden, could-sell.

Ending with "could": c-could.

Containing "could": how-could-you-think-it-of-me, if-we-sold-our-suburban-villa-we-could-buy-a-georgian-manor-house-in-the-country.

Afrikaans

kan (be able, be able to, can, may). (various references)

Albanian

pr e pp e foljes can. (various references)

Breton

c'hallfemp (we could), c'hallfec'h (could you). (various references)

Bulgarian 

бих могъл. (various references)

Catalan

podria (you could). (various references)

Chinese 

能 (able, ably). (various references)

Czech

mohl. (various references)

Danish

vanskeligheder,der alvorligt vil kunne forringe den oekonomiske situation i en bestemt egn (difficulties which could bring about serious deterioration in the economic situation of a given area), uregelmaessigheder,der kan foere til misbrug (irregularities which could result in abuse), tilsaetning af afspaendingsmidler vil muligvis kunne fremme vandfoeringen i de fine spraekker (the addition of wetting agents could accelerate the distribution of the water through fine fissures), foranstaltninger,der er egnede til at bringe virkeliggoerelsen af...i fare (any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of), faelles beskatningsgrundlag (uniform base, uniform base on which the tax could be imposed, uniform basis of assessment), faelles beregningsgrundlag (uniform base, uniform base on which the tax could be imposed, uniform basis of assessment), ensartet beregningsgrundlag (uniform base, uniform base on which the tax could be imposed, uniform basis of assessment), en stor del af vandet, som er noedvendigt for at faelde stoevet, cirkulerer i lukket kredsloeb igennem apparatet (most of the water needed to precipitate the dust could circulate in the apparatus), det var ikke muligt at bestemme krystalstrukturen af de grove korngraenseindeslutninger (the crystal structure of the big particles at the grain boundaries could not be determined), de saedvanlige toerre filtre, bestaaende af filterdug, tarm eller laerred,kunne ikke komme i betragtning p.g.a. deres store pladsbehov (as these required too much space, cloth, fleece or fabric filters could not be used), de afholder sig fra at traeffe foranstaltninger,der er egnede til at... (they shall abstain from any measure which could), borevirksomhed,hvorunder sammensatte borestrenge og andet udstyr med en diameter naer borehullets nedsaettes eller loeftes op af borehullet,kan suge borehullet til produktion (drilling operations involving the raising and lowering of packed drill strings and other near gauge equipment out of the well could swab the well in), betvivle,hvorvidt beløbet kan forlanges betalt (dispute whether the amount could be claimed). (various references)

Dutch

kunt (are able, are able to, can), kan (can, is possible, jug, may, pitcher, pot). (various references)

Esperanto

povus. (various references)

Estonian

võiksite, võiksin. (various references)

Farsi 

میتوانست . (various references)

Finnish

muuta ei ollut odotettavissa (what else could you expect), en ollut tuntea sinua (I could hardly recognize you), en parhaalla tahdollanikaan voinut (no matter how hard I tried I could not), en saanut unta (I could not get to sleep), en voinut pidättää nauruani (I could not help laughing), en voinut ymmärtää (I could not make it out), hän ei sentään voinut sitä tehdä (yet he could not do it), hän ei taipunut tekemään sitä (he could not be persuaded to do it), hän ei voinut olla itkemättä (she could not help weeping), auttaisitteko (I wonder if you could help me), löi minkä jaksoi (hit as hard as he could), voitteko tulla teelle (could you come to tea?), oli täysi työ (it was all he could do to, it was hard work), paljonko kello on (what time is it? what is the time? could you tell me what time it isis?), saisinko puhutella (I wonder if I could speak to . .?), saivat 3 minuutin puheenvuoroja (could not have the floor for more than 3 minutes), tervetuloa (hygienic, nice you could come! welcome, sanitary), tulisitteko (could you come to, would you like to come to), vaikka kohta oli vahva mies, ei jaksanut (strong though he was he could not), voisitte (you could), voisitteko (could you), hän sanoi voivansa tulla (he said he could come). (various references)

French

put, purent, pouvoir (command), pourriez (could you), pourrais, pûmes. (various references)

French Canadian

pourriez. (various references)

Galician

podería (could you). (various references)

German

könnte (might), konnte, kann (can, may, might, nicht cannot), könnten. (various references)

Greek 

μπόρεσα, μπορούσα (I could, might), αόρ. του can. (various references)

Hebrew 

יכל, היה יכול. (various references)

Hungarian

tudott (it is known, known, would). (various references)

Irish

dtabharfá (you could give), bhféadfainn (would I beable). (various references)

Italian

potuto. (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

縁切り寺 (a temple in which women seeking release from marriage could take refuge). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

えんきりでら (a temple in which women seeking release from marriage could take refuge). (various references)

Korean 

할 수 있었다. (various references)

Luxembourgish

kéint. (various references)

Norwegian

kan (can). (various references)

Pig Latin

ouldcay.(various references)

Portuguese

poderia (it could, one could). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian

poderia (it could, one could). (various references)

Romanian

trecut de la can. (various references)

Russian 

мочь (be able, be able to, be encouraged, be in position to, can, may, might as well). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

proš. vreme od can. (various references)

Somali

ma (are we, can, can I, could you, do, do you, have, I don't, is it, may, may I, may you, no, not, we don't, will we, would), kartaa (can, could you). (various references)

Spanish

pret de can, podría (could I, could you, you could). (various references)

Swedish

kunde (might, would). (various references)

Turkish

kaşla göz arasında (before you could say jack robinson, in a flash, in a jiffy, in a tick, in a wink, in the twinkle of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye, in two ticks, like winking), göz açıp kapayıncaya kadar (before you could say jack robinson, in a jiffy, in the twinkle of an eye, like winking). (various references)

Ukrainian

міг, зміг. (various references)

Vietnamese 

gánh trách nhiệm (can), bi đông (can, water-bottle), bình (can, container, flagon, pot, vase, vessel). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "could": couldest, couldst. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Could" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: caald, caud, cauld, caulds, ccould, choud, Choul, chould, Ciullo, Codul, coeld, coild, Coludi, comul, coud, couda, couid, couild, coul, coulde, couldn, couldni, couldny, coulds, coule, Coulsden, Cound, counld, courd, couyld, culd, cuul, hould, Koul, Oculi, oooold, ould, scould, sould, vould. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: cloud.

-1 letter: clod, cold, loud.

-2 letters: cod, col, cud, doc, dol, duo, old, oud, udo.

-3 letters: do, lo, od.

+1 letter: clouds, cloudy.

+2 letters: becloud, clouded, cloured, clouted, collude, couldst, coupled, cuckold, doucely, loculed, occlude, uncloud.

+3 letters: beclouds, caudillo, cauldron, closured, clotured, cloudier, cloudily, clouding, cloudlet, clupeoid, colluded, colluder, colludes, coloured, colubrid, columned, conclude, couldest, crunodal, cuboidal, cuckolds, cupolaed, decolour, decouple, flounced, fucoidal, jocundly, lodicule, mucoidal, nucleoid, occluded, occludes, occulted, octupled, outscold, oviducal, slouched, unclosed, unclouds, uncloyed, uncoiled, uncooled, undocile, unlocked, upcoiled.