Shouldn't've

//ˈʃʊd(ə)n(t)ə(v)// contraction, slang

contraction, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Contraction
  1. 1
    Contraction of should + not + have. abbreviation, alt-of, contraction, informal

    "She’s right. I shouldn’t’ve come."

Synonyms

All synonyms
shouldnashouldna

Example

More examples

"Tom did something he shouldn't've done."

Etymology

shouldn't + -'ve

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