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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�y��vlog 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.

"If people aren't dying to return at regular intervals to cinemas," says Hayes, "then you are holding an expensive set of assets that are hard to monetise".

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But most people aren’t international pop stars such as Jung Ho-seok, better known as j-hope of BTS.

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Higher interest rates and construction costs aren’t to blame for the decline — those conditions affected the entire region.

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In a Wednesday ceremony, he revealed his baseline universal tariffs and his “reciprocal” tariffs, which aren’t really reciprocal at all and rely on a crude formula potentially devised by an A.I. chatbot.

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He told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg: "By turning the platforms backwards away from safety, Mark Zuckerberg has changed the game fundamentally and shown that the platforms aren't really here to play safe, they're here to make money."

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