ain't
/eɪnt
/informal Usage
contraction
1Am not; are not; is not: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it...
- In ‘The Kid,’ the poet unveils the hidden core beneath a comfortable mask, telling about how the subject talks candidly about his father ‘sometimes when we ain't talking about baseball.’
- We aint tryin to be something were not.
- We ain't running from nothing. We ain't worried about nothing.
First representing London dialect
1.1Has not; have not: they ain’t got nothing to say...
- Baseball's origins ain't found till they're found.
- He ain't won a fight in years.
- Well, he's a man who loves being on the hills and what he ain't climbed ain't worth climbing.
From dialect hain't
Usage
The use of ain’t was widespread in the 18th century, typically as a contraction for am not. It is still perfectly normal in many dialects and informal speech in both Britain and North America. Today, however, it does not form part of standard English and should never be used in formal or written contexts. See also are n’t (usage).
Rhymes
- unidimensional
- unidiomatic
- unidirectional
- unidirectionality
- unidirectionally
- UNIDO
- uniface
- unifactorial
- unification
- Unification Church
- unificatory
- unified field theory
- unifier
- uniflow
- uniform
- Uniform Commercial Code
- uniformed
- uniformitarian
- uniformitarianism
- uniformity
- Uniformity, Act of
- uniformly
- uniform resource locator
- unify
- unijunction