verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   are not (negative auxiliary)
2. 2
   A contraction of “am not”, used e.g. in the construction "aren’t I?" colloquial

   "I’m a nasty-tempered dog if any one tries to take my bone away; aren’t I, my sons?"

Synonyms

All synonyms

ain'tain'tain’tamn't

Antonyms

All antonyms

amare

Example

More examples

""Why aren't you going?" "Because I don't want to.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

are + -n’t

Etymology 2

Spelling replacement of the homonym an’t.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.