Dictionary

can do with en · VERB

Meanings

1. (no-past-participle, no-present-participle, transitive, usually, with could) To need; to want; to be in a position to benefit from.
   • A garden can do with a little mystery, which serpentine paths provide. 1999 July, Jim McCausland, “Paths of discovery”, in Sunset, volume 203, number 1, page 57:
   • Journalism today could do with a little more attention to principle, a little more concern about ethics. 2000 May 17, John Huges, “How do we find what's true?”, in Christian Science Monitor:
   • In fact, while balking at the cruel burden he had imposed on me, I thought that his mind could do with some improvement 2000 Spring, Jervis Anderson, “England in Jamaica.”, in American Scholar, volume 69, number 2, page 15:
   • His hair was thinning and slicked back, and he could have done with a good shave. 1996 March, D. William Shunn, “Celestial Mechanics.”, in Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 90, number 3, page 109:

Forms

Relateds

could do with · could have done with · could have done without · could do without · can do without