Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Cannot

[kan-ot, ka-not, kuh-]

Example Sentences Origin

verb

a form of ·can not.

Idiom

cannot but, have no alternative but to: We cannot but choose otherwise.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Cannot is one of our favorite verbs.

So is kibitz. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

chat, to converse

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English

Usage note
Cannot is sometimes also spelled can not. The one-word spelling is by far the more common: Interest rates simply cannot continue at their present level. The contraction can't is most common in speech and informal writing. EXPANDSee also can¹.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To Cannot

Example Sentences

Germans have learned after decades of fighting their expression that the ideas behind them cannot be outlawed.

Student life needs certain autonomy and cannot be organized educationally as strictly accountable activities.

So they can consume many of the long-lived radioactive materials that thermal reactors cannot.

EXPAND

Germans have learned after decades of fighting their expression that the ideas behind them cannot be outlawed.

Student life needs certain autonomy and cannot be organized educationally as strictly accountable activities.

So they can consume many of the long-lived radioactive materials that thermal reactors cannot.

Though they cannot fly, ostriches are fleet, strong runners.

As the world warms up, some species cannot move to cooler climes in time to survive.

You've become at an expert at identifying what plastics you can and cannot recycle.

Seeds cannot germinate until certain favorable environmental conditions are met.

The blimp cannot fly where there is risk of snow and has difficulty transiting over mountains.

Cholera outbreaks seem to be on the increase, but a new study has found they cannot be explained by global warming.

Today you cannot order a coffee, buy a bagel, or pay for a photocopy without being asked to leave your change behind for.

Then it would be clear that our reason can indeed explain much, but more to the point, cannot explain much more.

Either sell what will work, or don't sell that what you do not and cannot understand.

From there, the virus cannot spread any farther because its new neuronal hosts do not make the vital protein.

Astronomers cannot actually see the new planets that have been discovered.

Not fussy about soil type but cannot take cold, wet soils.

It would not reveal anything concealed inside the body, because the terahertz signals cannot go through water, or metal.

But for many neighborhood businesses, the protest's end cannot come soon enough.

If you are invisible, you still see if people are visible but they cannot see you.

It cannot grow out of trouble because of fiscal retrenchment and its lack of export prowess.

Wallpaper cannot be recycled in the traditional sense.

Somehow, even though water molecules are much smaller, they cannot enter.

Many jobless people, he realized, cannot afford a car to reach a job site.

In general, some nutrients cannot be efficiently absorbed by plant roots if soil pH is too high.

The lower courts dismissed the case, saying the federal government cannot be sued for copyright infringement.

They cannot go in the swimming pool in the backyard.

The alumni of the university hire recent graduates and conclude they cannot write.

Thanks to restrictive immigration laws, they cannot hire cheap help.

These teeth are so long that the viper cannot close its mouth completely.

Stroke victims cannot perceive paralysis in themselves--or others.

The skill of the forensic anthropologist cannot lessen the anguish of loss, but it can lessen the anguish of doubt.

While chlorosis may be due to iron-poor soil, it is more likely that iron is present but simply cannot be absorbed by plants.

It can be difficult to know for sure what can and cannot be carried on an airliner these days.

But corruption in journalism cannot be taken a restriction in freedom of expression.

But the focus cannot be strictly educational, she warned.

One cannot become a more ethical person solely by pointing out that someone else is unethical.

Plus, being exposed to cosmic radiation for years and years and years cannot be a good lifestyle choice.

Drops its leaves in hard frosts and cannot endure prolonged freezes add to my plant list.

It may be harder for others to lose weight, but there is nothing people cannot do.

We cannot remove that framed area from the map image.

In order for one species to diverge into two, a population must be divided into groups that cannot interbreed.

They cannot get by eating only relatively poor-quality food such as leaves.

Needs long summers to bloom well and cannot take frost add to my plant list.

But the human nose cannot detect all the chemical changes brought about by disease.

Personalized items cannot be returned unless damaged or defective.

There appears to be literally nothing microbes cannot do.

Whether or not the sauropod was killed by a predator cannot be determined.

The organic form cannot be matchednaturally beautiful and the perfect accent to my living room.

The doctors cannot agree on a diagnosis, let alone administer an antidote with confidence.

It is getting hot because you pump fast and the heat generated at compression cannot escape.

People with wheat allergies can safely eat spelt as well as barley and rye, while those with celiac cannot.

It was a service that, then as now, cannot be underestimated.

Unlike lime sulfur, elemental sulfur cannot be used in conjunction with oils: the combination will kill plants.

Just as voters cannot repeal the laws of gravity, they cannot insist that foreign creditors lend them money.

They cannot cook at night or on overcast days, making them impractical in some climates.

Choisser cannot remember faces, a condition known as prosopagnosia.

Riding, one cannot so well judge of distance traversed.

Experiencing the changing beauty and tranquility of gardens feeds us in ways that money cannot buy.

Abel proved that equations of the fifth order cannot generally be solved.

Electronics cannot count fast enough to keep up with an optical oscillator.

Seven-month-old infants cannot talk, nor can they do arithmetic.

Piñata breaks in timely fashion but blindfolded birthday boy/girl who broke it cannot pull blindfold off.

Personaly i believe there is no reason that something even you or me cannot travel faster than the speed of light.

When people dam rivers to make reservoirs or produce electricity, the wildlife downstream often cannot survive.

The technology has yet to be invented that cannot be put to perverse use if there is enough money at stake.

The economic importance of these animals to the local economy cannot be understated.

Because this aspect of shale fracking cannot be mitigated, it tends to be summarily dismissed.

Alteration cannot change material content of the photo.

But the photons cannot be reproduced without destroying the information they contain.

Like other sea turtles, the green turtle cannot pull its head into its shell.

Causal affects cannot be directly inferred from statistical correlations.

All the tutoring in the world cannot save students who run.

The answer to it cannot be a straightforward technical or biological one because food is basic to life.

They are at risk to disease that their immune systems cannot fight as well as mortal injury from the loggers.

As long as mountaintop removal mining continues coal cannot be clean, even if the pollution from burning it can be minimized.

And many of these processes are big enough that even people in industrialized nations cannot protect themselves.

Secondly, you cannot underestimate the importance of authenticity when it comes to collecting art.

At my university the definition of diversity is any group that cannot call itself white and male.

Firm demand for a bond auction this week cannot mask deep problems with its.

The effects of cinematography and the influence of the advent of film on poetry cannot be overstated.

They cannot be used to identify someone in criminal proceedings.

Although sound cannot be heard in space, it can sometimes be seen.

It is hard to capture anything when moving so rapidly espcially when things happen only a split second and cannot be repeated.

Employments cannot discriminate on these grounds either.

Winning images of recognizable people will be disqualified if the photographer cannot provide a valid model release upon request.

If the solar industry cannot compete upon its own merits then it does not deserve to continue.

Powerful telescopes show us the remote planets and faraway galaxies that our puny retinas cannot see.

Encryption is always enabled, and cannot be disabled by users.

Information is of no use if it cannot be put to productive use.

Buy a house you cannot afford and the central bank will cut interest.

Remote sensing consists of using aerial photography and other methods to view what cannot be seen with the unaided eye.

But they caution that a tree with tinsel or fake snow spray cannot be recycled.

Try laying black plastic under the plants so the larvae cannot pupate.

Bats use echolocation to see in the dark, but unfortunately human scientists cannot do the same.

Most of the grads cannot write a complete sentence, to say the least.

When wildlife cannot be traded, it loses its value and thus the incentive for people to conserve.

If an armored armadillo cannot get away, it hides in its shell.

New findings show that variations in cloud cover cannot explain temperature changes as a result of global.

Magazines cannot present all the new knowledge becoming available, although the magazine is a treasure.

Effective today, merchants cannot leave negative or.

Without a proof, the publisher cannot be held responsible for the quality of the black-and-white or color reproduction.

Because heart tissue cannot regenerate after an injury, the damage inflicted on the cardiac muscle.

They cannot pull without harnesses, and harnesses need to be maintained.

The tetrominoes cannot sit on the given numbers, and cannot touch even other, not even diagonally.

Development needs to be climate-ready, even if it cannot be climate-proof.

Although this inner core is white hot, the pressure is so high the iron cannot melt.

Investigators cannot feed toxic compounds to people to see what.

Universes unfit for inhabitation lack intelligent life and cannot reproduce".

It cannot cure viral infections such as the common cold and severe acute respiratory syndrome.

These organizations cannot function without the voluntary time that people all over put into their work.

Many laws, especially federal ones, are so vaguely written that people cannot easily tell whether they have broken them.

Kangaroos' legs cannot move independently of one another, so they must hop everywhere.

Empowering young women through education will help reduce overpopulation in areas that cannot support it and avoid extremism.

However, the same cannot be said for the owner of another pair of famous gems at the museum:.

It's an unpaid burden at that, since they cannot bill for email consultations unlike attorneys and accountants.

In many cases, governments simply cannot meet the higher-education needs.

The efficient-market hypothesis is a useful reminder that the average investor cannot expect to beat the market after expenses.

Species cannot survive at the rate they are being removed from the sea.

Tumors cannot grow unless they recruit their own private blood supply.

These animals cannot be released into the wild they have been altered to the point of dependancy on humans.

If a good job comes up in another town, they cannot take it.

Truth cannot be defined as more than experience or data from measurements.

Or if the income of a company cannot cover its debt obligations, that company is.

Those ears can pick up sounds that humans cannot hear.

Because the tamper-evident seal cannot be broken, even a nearly full bottle cannot be given.

Exporters, who might be expected to boost production to exploit a favourable exchange rate, cannot get the money to expand.

Ripe tomatoes cannot normally be trucked long distances because they spoil too quickly.

We cannot be satisfied when fallible humans are the judge and the jury to deadly trials.

Black holes themselves are unobservable, because light cannot escape from them.

And who can say on the basis of scientific knowledge that consciousness cannot influence that development.

It is a shame, that the people of earth cannot control there selfishness.

Since about a third of their length is inside the skull, the tusks cannot be fully removed while the animal is alive.

Lava solidifies quickly, so these puddles cannot be more than a few minutes old.

The ascenders are climbing tools that move up a rope but cannot move down-for good reason.

The number of galaxies cannot be counted-the observable universe alone may contain.

Yet vexingly, today's treatments cannot actually cure the infection.

The simplest types of light receptors are known as ocelli-they are so basic that they cannot even be called eyes.

Thus cooling temperatures alone cannot explain why all the dinosaurs disappeared.

The rise cannot be explained by the climate models.

We cannot really say when the final decision to press the brake took place".

We simply cannot curb global warming without doubling power generation efficiency.

Progress on so many fronts cannot be ignored, and there is no going back.

In this way, they appear to be right, knowing their opponent cannot release the full side of their story.

We cannot get a temperature reading coming out of the black hole.

The animals, which cannot themselves see, belong to a new species of.

There are laws to prevent sale to people who cannot be trusted.

Unlike hard corals, soft corals don't leave a limestone skeleton behind and cannot regenerate.

But one chimp cannot teach another chimp about some third thing the first chimp knows about.

The same cannot be said for thousands of downy penguin chicks.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

cannot (ˈkænɒt, kæˈnɒt)

—vb
	an auxiliary verb expressing incapacity, inability, withholding permission, etc; can not

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

cannot

c.1400, from can (v.) + not. O.E. expressed the notion by ne cunnan.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

cannot

see under can't.