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could English

Meaning could meaning

What does could mean?
Definitions in simple English

could

If you could do something, you were able to do it. When I was younger, I could run a five-minute mile. If you could something, but you don't know if you want to, you have the option of doing do it. She could do her math or go to the game.

could

Used as a past subjunctive (contrary to fact). Used to politely ask for permission to do something. Used to politely ask for someone else to do something. Used to show the possibility that something might happen. Used to suggest something.

could

Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

Synonyms could synonyms

What other words have the same or similar meaning as could?

Topics could topics

What do people use could to talk about?
  • possibility: the speaker is indicating that the situation described in the proposition is possibly true. Some markers with this meaning also indicate future time: 'He may arrive late because of the weather; It may snow again tomorrow; She could have already taken it'.

Examples could examples

How do I use could in a sentence?

Simple sentences

Did you say that I could never win?
You could count to ten when you were two.
You could have done it.
I could've met you at the airport.
I could've cried.
Could we have a table outside?
I spoke to him in English and found I could make myself understood.
Could you call a doctor, please?
If the world weren't in the shape it is now, I could trust anyone.
If I could be like that.
Let's consider the worst that could happen.
Let's think about the worst that could happen.
Let us think about the worst that could happen.
If I could send you a marshmallow, Trang, I would.
I wish I could go to Japan.
How could I be a robot? Robots don't dream.
You could at least try to be a bit more polite, even though it's not like you.
I wish I could care more about my grades but it seems that, at a certain point of my life, I decided they wouldn't be so important anymore.
Could you dial for me? The telephone is too high.
It's so hot that you could cook an egg on the hood of a car.
Mathematics is the part of science you could continue to do if you woke up tomorrow and discovered the universe was gone.
It would be so cool if I could speak ten languages!
Could you call again later, please?

Movie subtitles

If I could put you back into my stomache!
Could it be. that she's your girlfriend?
I thought that it would be a little while longer before I could make my move.
Suzaku-san, could you take me to one more place?
Many Japanese who could not get inside are gathered outside.
Did you really think you could get me to shoot you just by threatening me?
So, does all this mean that Western civilization itself could soon be history?
I think we could simplify it.
Understanding how the West beat the rest gives us an insight not just into the past but also into the future, and I think you'II agree, it helps answer the question that could be the most important of our time.
Question - could something similar happen to Western civilization 2.0 - the version that, after a millennium of stagnation, rose to dominate the world?
The gate where I'm sitting could house more than 3,000 soldiers.
Who could refuse to kowtow to an emperor possessed of so mighty a fleet?
The Portuguese had the brilliant idea that if they could find an alternative route, all the way around the coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean. then this business could be theirs.
Yeah. Could it be. that she's your girlfriend?
Could it be true?
That could take several minutes or even longer.
And the idea was born. That he could collaborate With David Gill from the Cape Observatory to perform that huge task of measuring all the plates Gill had been collecting.
But how could we get an impression of the entire Galaxy?
We were still in a scientific environment, so I could not have imagined any better place to hide.
Henk hacl finished his studies, except for the final exam, which he could not do, because the University was closed.
So Henk could move around freely.
At a wavelength of 21 cm we could expect more radiation than at all the other wavelengths around it.
But back then there was only a small number of participants, because students could not attend and also because travel was difficult during the war.
We also determined the small errors that still remained, So that we could correct for them.
Maybe you could help me solve a little problem I have.
All I could think about was putting my hand in her back pocket.
I didn't think I could do it.
Frankie set up a distraction so I could make the catch without Nick finding out.
Frankie was up to something- - I could feel it-- And I needed to find out what.
We could buy EpiPens so the kids who are allergic could be safe.
Then the kids would turn against Frankie, and I could take over the peanut racket.
How could you do this to me?
You bastard! How could you do this to me?
He could fill like 50 balloons a day.
This could be a trick. She could be working for them.
Could have happened to anybody.

News and current affairs

So what could justify another huge increase in gold prices from here?
Wouldn't it be paradoxical, then, if financial alchemy could make an ingot of gold worth dramatically more?
But if real interest rates rise significantly, as well they might someday, gold prices could plummet.
As a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT, I am getting a good preview of what the world could look like when the crisis finally passes.
All forms of leftist ideology - indeed, everything that smacked of collective idealism - came to be viewed as misguided utopianism that could lead only to the Gulag.
But there is a serious downside: The deal could hurt developing-country exporters, unless the EU and the US make a concerted effort to protect these actors' interests.
But, in some cases, the harmonized standard could be more stringent than some countries' original standards.
Even though new standards would apply to suppliers from all exporting countries, compliance costs usually vary, meaning that those less equipped to meet higher standards could suffer.
Even in the absence of international rules, the EU and the US could take two actions to ensure that the TTIP does not have adverse consequences for developing economies.
First, they could allow all countries to reap the benefits of a bilateral mutual-recognition deal by agreeing not to impose restrictive rules of origin.
Second, where they do consider harmonization, they could favor the less stringent of the original standards, unless there is credible evidence that it would not support the relevant regulatory objective.
If the EU and the US made these two commitments, the rest of the world could follow the TTIP negotiations with hope, rather than trepidation.
Devaluation of the dollar could improve US competitiveness in the short run, but it is not a solution.
Since he first appeared at the side of Dr. Chaim Weizmann in the late 1940's during the struggle for Jewish statehood and sovereignty, few people could articulate the Zionist and later the Israeli case with comparable eloquence and conviction.
Now, emboldened by continuing appreciation, some are suggesting that gold could be headed even higher than that.
As Ambassador to the United States and the UN, and later as Foreign Minister, he represented an Israel with which the world's liberal imagination could identify.
He could hardly have been held responsible for the hubris which led to the avalanche of 1973, yet it nonetheless brought him down as well.

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