cannot
verb
- can not; am/is/are unable to
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈkænɒt/ / /ˌkænˈɒt/ / /ˈkænɑt/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English can not, cannot, cannouȝt, etc. (compare Old English ne cann), equivalent to can + not.
- Something that cannot be done.
“the cans and cannots”
- A person who cannot do (something).
verb
Etymology: From Middle English can not, cannot, cannouȝt, etc. (compare Old English ne cann), equivalent to can + not.
- Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc).
“I cannot open the window. It is stuck.”
“The butler cannot be the murderer, he cannot have killed her, because he was in another city at the time.”
- Be forbidden or not permitted to
“The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, which cannot be Diſcharged as to one, and ſtand as to all the reſt.”
“The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.”