wouldn't've en · X
Pronunciation
Etymology
From would + -n't + -'ve.
Meanings
-
(abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, contraction) Contraction of would + not + have.
alt of would
2006 October, Goff Morgan, "We Wouldn't've Had To Do It" (poem).
I didn’t bring him here. If you wouldn’t have gone out, I wouldn’t have either. I’d have thrown him out right away. He wouldn’t’ve made it through the door.
1983, Elias Canetti, Comedy of Vanity and Life-Terms, page 47:Anyway, my Daddy said if you wasn’t such a coward, trying to haze that boy with a big bunch of others, you wouldn’t’ve got shot in the first place […]
1936, Eugene Morehead Armfield, Where the Weak Grow Strong, page 115:[…] if there had been a man around, taking hold of things, her father’s partner wouldn’t’ve been able to get away with most of the estate the way he did…
1950, Irwin Shaw, Mixed Company: Collected Short Stories of Irwin Shaw, page 276:
Relateds
oughtn't've · shouldn't've · couldn't've