Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Wasn't. Although not so elegant as the present tense form isn't, yet the contraction wasn't is in excellent repute. It is properly used only in the first and third persons singular. No one who makes any pretension to culture would be guilty of saying" You was my neighbor, but you wasn't my friend," "We was engaged in trade, and they wasn't of any use to us." Say we were or were not, but never wasn't or wa'nt. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Date "Wasn't" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
Crosswords: Wasn't |
| English words defined with "Wasn't": approximate range ♦ ballpark, besides, blind, breath ♦ choker, continually ♦ gift horse, good ♦ heat, heating, heating plant, heating system, heavy lifting ♦ in any case ♦ make, misapprehension, mistake, misunderstanding ♦ pleasant ♦ shadow, snorter, subterfuge ♦ trace ♦ vestige ♦ well. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Wasn't": Andrew Fluegelman ♦ Basic Input/Output System ♦ computer ethics, Contractions ♦ data channel ♦ Fairchild F8 ♦ IMMODEST ♦ Jack Mormon ♦ safety ♦ Tiny BASIC, TMS 9900 ♦ videotex. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You just couldn't stand it that she was going to kiss me and not you, wasn't it? (Batman & Robin; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman) I wasn't really paying attention. (Dumb and Dumber; writing credit: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, and Bennett Yellin.) Frankie, I wasn't talking to you, now was I? (Sling Blade; writing credit: Charles Chaplin) You know if it wasn't for this man I would be standing here dead. (Dirty Dancing; writing credit: Eleanor Bergstein) It was a bullet, wasn't it? (Forrest Gump; writing credit: Eric Roth) | |
Lyrics | When I told her it wasn't me (It Wasn't Me; performing artist: Shaggy) He wasn't man enough for me (He Wasn't Man Enough; performing artist: Toni Braxton) Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no (You Oughta Know; performing artist: Alanis Morissette) But that wasn't the case (Losing Grip; performing artist: AVRIL LAVIGNE) One of her friends found out that she wasn't my only one (The Call; performing artist: Backstreet Boys) | |
Clever | Plan ahead: It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark! (references; author: unknown) I got a job in a health club, but they said I wasn't fit for the job. (references; author: unknown) My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn't noteworthy. (references; author: unknown) The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay. Love isn't love till you give it away. (references; author: unknown) I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it. Mainly because it was a so-so job. (references; author: unknown) | |
Tongue Twisters | Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he? (references; author: unknown) I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | It Wasn't Me (1969) The Bear That Wasn't (1967) It Wasn't Poison After All (1913) When Hubby Wasn't Well (1911) The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) | |
Song Titles | It Wasn't Me (performing artist: Ricardo "Rikrok" Ducent) It Wasn't Me (performing artist: Shaggy) He Wasn't Man Enough (performing artist: Toni Braxton) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Going to Bosque - if it wasn't trees and vines, it was head-high sawgrass. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Staff Sgt. Brian Smith checks film to make sure it wasn't scratched during processing. Smith's unit, the 9th Intelligence Squadron (Deployed) recently arrived at Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base in Southwest Asia. (P.; photo by Staff Sgt. James Rush).. |
 | One Warning Wasn't Enough! : Now There Are Four Surgeon General's Warnings. / Clement Communications, Inc. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | It wasn't until the dug-out blew in from the sea, and he had learned to navigate it, that the child visited the wreck. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Maybe our Vichy policy wasn't as bad as some people seemed to think. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | It just wasn't my day!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | I say! wasn't that Jim Roberts -- why didn't he speak to us? ... Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Negro day laborer moving from one man's farm to another to get work. He wasn't needed any more by former "employer." The son of his new employer said his father used to have tenants but that they "skinned" him too often by moving out on him all the time. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Gumps. "Nice fellow, wasn't he Chester, that man who came over and sat and talked with us". Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The NAACP has been fighting for freedom for over 68 years : it wasn't easy, it still isn't. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Stuart Mill | Don't be scared to fight for your rights. George Washington wasn't and even the British like him now. |
Wolcott Gibbs | He wasn't exactly hostile to facts, but he was apathetic about them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Winnie the Pooh | A.A. Milne | The more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn't there. |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | Many solutions were suggested for the problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green peices of paper that were unhappy. |
Something Wicked This Way Comes | Ray Bradbury | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SAFETY-:CLUTCH:, n. A mechanical device acting automatically to prevent the fall of an elevator, or cage, in case of an accident to the hoisting apparatus. Once I seen a human ruin In an elevator-well, And his members was bestrewin' All the place where he had fell. And I says, apostrophisin' That uncommon woful wreck: "Your position's so surprisin' That I tremble for your neck!" Then that ruin, smilin' sadly And impressive, up and spoke: "Well, I wouldn't tremble badly, For it's been a fortnight broke." Then, for further comprehension Of his attitude, he begs I will focus my attention On his various arms and legs -- How they all are contumacious; Where they each, respective, lie; How one trotter proves ungracious, T'other one an alibi. These particulars is mentioned For to show his dismal state, Which I wasn't first intentioned To specifical relate. None is worser to be dreaded That I ever have heard tell Than the gent's who there was spreaded In that elevator-well. Now this tale is allegoric -- It is figurative all, For the well is metaphoric And the feller didn't fall. I opine it isn't moral For a writer-man to cheat, And despise to wear a laurel As was gotten by deceit. For 'tis Politics intended By the elevator, mind, It will boost a person splendid If his talent is the kind. Col. Bryan had the talent (For the busted man is him) And it shot him up right gallant Till his head begun to swim. Then the rope it broke above him And he painful come to earth Where there's nobody to love him For his detrimented worth. Though he's livin' none would know him, Or at leastwise not as such. Moral of this woful poem: Frequent oil your safety-clutch. Porfer Poog |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Barry Manilow | You got it. And I wasn't bad, believe it or not. But that would have been it, had Willie not come into my life. |
David Gest | To be honest with you, I liked her, I respected her, but I wasn't somebody who had any of her records. Now I have all of her records. |
Dennis Miller | I'm pretty sure the Donner party wasn't even that misguided. |
Howard Lutnick | Listening on the radio and trying to make phone calls and seeing if I can get anyone on the phone. But I wasn't able to get anyone on the phone, and just going downtown, just trying to get there. |
Laura Schlessinger | That, they couldn't tell me. But the police officer said they didn't believe that she died immediately, but they believe that she wasn't with her faculties for whatever small period of time she was alive because she didn't pick up the phone or anything. |
Lisa French | From the kids playing too hard, too rough with her. So, Terry was working day and night, he was making like minimum wage, or maybe a little bit more, trying to support, you know, five other people besides himself. And it just wasn't working. |
Maureen O'Hara | That was a terrible moment, because it had to be seconded to be accepted. And if it wasn't seconded, it would have gone by the wayside and I never would have got it. |
Rush Limbaugh | Even before we announced hostilities in Afghanistan, the Democratic leadership began ripping Bush because he wasn't taking action. |
Sean Penn | The joke I made that she had her fingers crossed I wasn't sure in what direction. That's a married man joke. |
Tom Daschle | Well, I don't think it'd been appropriate for me to be there to acknowledge an agreement, when I wasn't a party to the agreement, at least today. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | When I was looking for somebody to run the Department of Education, I wasn't interested in anybody who was good on the theory. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Wasn't" is generally used as a lexical verb (base form) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Wasn't" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 100% | 2 | 245,945 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "Wasn't": rome wasn't built in a day ♦ wasn't he sold!. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Wasn't": wasn't-how. | |
Containing "Wasn't": aw-shucks-gee-look-what-happened-to-me-when-i-wasn't-trying, thanks-for-putting-up-with-them-and-that-wasn't-too-bad-was-it. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "Wasn't"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
German | Sie durfte nicht gehen. (She wasn't allowed to go.), rom ist auch nicht an einem tag erbaut worden (rome wasn't built in a day). (various references) | |
Greek | συντομία αντί was not. (various references) | |
Hungarian | szörnyen dühös volt! (he wasn't half ratty!). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | asn'tway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | roma não foi construída em um dia (rome wasn't built in a day). (various references) | |
Romanian | n-a fost. (various references) | |
Spanish | no se ganó zamora en una hora (rome wasn't built in a day). (various references) | |
Swedish | var inte (weren't). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Wasn't" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Asnt, waint, wasnt, waunt, winst. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "'-a-n-s-t-w" | |
-1 letter: wants. | |
-2 letters: ants, awns, sawn, snaw, staw, swan, swat, tans, taws, twas, wans, want, wast, wats. | |
-3 letters: ant, awn, naw, sat, saw, tan, tas, taw, twa, wan, was, wat. | |
-4 letters: an, as, at, aw, na, ta. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
