AREN'T Definition & Meaning

aren't

[ ahrnt, ahr-uhnt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

contraction of are not.
contraction of am not (used interrogatively).

aren't

/ ɑː�Գ� /

contraction of

are not
informal.
used in interrogative sentences am not

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Usage Note

The social unacceptability of ain't, the historical contraction of am not, has created a gap in the pattern of verbal contractions. I'm not, the alternative to I ain't, has no corresponding interrogative form except ain't I. In questions, ain't I is often avoided by the use of aren't I: I'm right, aren't I? Aren't I on the list? This aren't is simply a different outcome of the same historical development that yielded ain't, but the fact that it is spelled and pronounced like the contraction of are not (as in You are staying, aren't you? ) apparently gives it, for some, an acceptability that ain't lacks. The use of aren't I is objected to by others because a declarative counterpart, I aren't, does not exist. Many speakers, however, prefer aren't I to the uncontracted, rather formal am I not. ain't, contraction.

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��t¶�� History and Origins

Origin of aren't¹

As contraction of am not, a doublet of ain't (without raising of the vowel), spelling aren't by r-less speakers; ar was later substituted for the long a by speakers who regularly pronounce pre-consonantal r

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"I don't think a beautiful baby girl that's 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls," Trump told Kristen Welker of NBC News, revealing that this father of five is unaware that 11-year-olds aren't babies.

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"I just don't understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he's going to take significant portions of land that aren't his, that that's going to satisfy him. I don't quite understand," Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Discussing Putin, Biden said: "I just don't understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he's going to take significant portions of land that aren't his, that that's going to satisfy him. I don't quite understand."

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“There’s a lot of people going by those areas, but there really aren’t any restroom facilities nearby,” he said.

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While the celebrities in these clothes aren’t explicitly transgressive figures, their presence in this world of high status is in a sense a form of transgression.

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Arensky areo-

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aren't

contraction of

Usage Note

�������t¶�� History and Origins

Example Sentences

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��t¶�� History and Origins