mightn't en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- [ˈmaɪʔn̩ʔ] (UK)
- /ˈmaɪtn̩t/ (UK)
Etymology
From might + n't.
Meanings
-
(UK, archaic) might not (negative auxiliary)
Her driver was new to the country; he mightn't be prepared for the leaping of the yellow water down dry arroyos, swift as the pouncings of a cat, or the snake-like slidings of tons of loosened rock and clay from the steep potreros […]
1931, Mary Hunter Austin, Starry Adventure, page 274:"But at night she would still think the same thing: mightn't it be that he wouldn't come to see her anymore?"
1974, Mario Vargas Llosa, Conversation in the Cathedral: A Novel, Harper & Row (First Rayo Edition, 2005), page 275“But, mightn’t there have been something unusual about the Stimatis contract itself?” [Perry Mason cross-examining Roger Correll.]
1963, Perry Mason, The Case of the Greek Goddess (Television Season 6, Episode 25)
Coordinates
mayn't · couldn't · oughtn't · won't · wouldn't · can't · shan't · shouldn't