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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51�Թ� 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.

The beats that follow aren’t much different, either.

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Despite both wings of the party gearing up for competitive races, the two factions aren't clashing — yet.

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“So many women getting started aren’t really on any trading platforms that are built by and for women, so as a result women just don’t engage with them,” she says.

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He doesn't believe in the idea that has organized global trading for almost a century now, which Amanda Taub of the New York Times defined as, "the 'positive-sum' game: a collection of overlapping systems that benefit all who participate in them, even if the costs and benefits of participation aren’t distributed equally."

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Even Republicans who aren’t quite ready to restrain Trump’s tariff power are admitting that he may have taken it too far.

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