Word Meanings - COULD - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Was, should be, or would be, able, capable, or susceptible. Used as an auxiliary, in the past tense or in the conditional present.

Related words: (words related to COULD)

• SHOULDER
  The joint, or the region of the joint, by which the fore limb is connected with the body or with the shoulder girdle; the projection formed by the bones and muscles about that joint. 2. The flesh and muscles connected with the shoulder joint; the
• SHOULDER-SHOTTEN
  Sprained in the shoulder, as a horse. Shak.
• PRESENT
  one, in sight or at hand, p. p. of praeesse to be before; prae before 1. Being at hand, within reach or call, within certain contemplated limits; -- opposed to absent. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. John xiv. 25.
• PRESENTIVE
  Bringing a conception or notion directly before the mind; presenting an object to the memory of imagination; -- distinguished from symbolic. How greatly the word "will" is felt to have lost presentive power in the last three centuries. Earle. --
• PRESENTANEOUS
  Ready; quick; immediate in effect; as, presentaneous poison. Harvey.
• CONDITIONALITY
  The quality of being conditional, or limited; limitation by certain terms.
• PRESENTLY
  1. At present; at this time; now. The towns and forts you presently have. Sir P. Sidney. 2. At once; without delay; forthwith; also, less definitely, soon; shortly; before long; after a little while; by and by. Shak. And presently the fig tree
• CONDITIONAL
  Expressing a condition or supposition; as, a conditional word, mode, or tense. A conditional proposition is one which asserts the dependence of one categorical proposition on another. Whately. The words hypothetical and conditional may be . . .
• SHOULDERED
  Having shoulders; -- used in composition; as, a broad- shouldered man. "He was short-shouldered." Chaucer.
• PRESENTER
  One who presents.
• WOULDINGNESS
  Willingness; desire.
• PRESENTIMENT
  Previous sentiment, conception, or opinion; previous apprehension; especially, an antecedent impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding.
• PRESENTIATE
  To make present.
• WOULD-BE
  ' (as, a would-be poet.
• PRESENTIAL
  Implying actual presence; present, immediate. God's mercy is made presential to us. Jer. Taylor. -- Pre*sen"tial*ly, adv.
• TENSE
  One of the forms which a verb takes by inflection or by adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; the modification which verbs undergo for the indication of time. Note: The primary simple tenses are three:
• PRESENTEE
  One to whom something is presented; also, one who is presented; specifically , one presented to benefice. Ayliffe.
• PRESENTIMENTAL
  Of nature of a presentiment; foreboding. Coleridge.
• CAPABLENESS
  The quality or state of being capable; capability; adequateness; competency.
• AUXILIARY
  Conferring aid or help; helping; aiding; assisting; subsidiary; as auxiliary troops. Auxiliary scales , the scales of relative or attendant keys. See under Attendant, a. -- Auxiliary verbs . See Auxiliary, n., 3.
• UNCAPABLE
  Incapable. "Uncapable of conviction." Locke.
• INCAPABLE
  Unqualified or disqualified, in a legal sense; as, a man under thirty-five years of age is incapable of holding the office of president of the United States; a person convicted on impeachment is thereby made incapable of holding an office of profit
• HUMP-SHOULDERED
  Having high, hunched shoulders. Hawthorne.
• NONPRESENTATION
  Neglect or failure to present; state of not being presented.
• REPRESENTABLE
  Capable of being represented.
• TOTIPRESENT
  Omnipresence. A. Tucker.
• OMNIPRESENTIAL
  Implying universal presence. South.
• REPRESENTANT
  Appearing or acting for another; representing.
• OVERCAPABLE
  Too capable. Overcapable of such pleasing errors. Hooker.
• IRREPRESENTABLE
  Not capable of being represented or portrayed.
• INTENSE
  to stretch: cf. F. intense. See Intend, and cf. Intent, and cf. 1. Strained; tightly drawn; kept on the stretch; strict; very close or earnest; as, intense study or application; intense thought. 2. Extreme in degree; excessive; immoderate; as: