should
//ʃəd//
Forms
- present (v1)
- should
- past (v2)
- shoulded
- past participle (v3)
- shoulded
- present participle
- shoulding
- 3rd person singular
- should
- Plural
- shoulds
Definitions
1.simple past of shall
- I told him that I should be busy tomorrow.
2.Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.
- You should never drink and drive.
- She should not have been so rude.
- What do you think? What should I do?
3.Ought to; expressing expectation.
- They should have it finished by Friday.
- You should be warm enough with that coat.
- They should have finished by now; I'll call them to check.
4.Used to form a variant of the present subjunctive, expressing a state or action that is hypothetical, potential, mandated, etc.
- Should you need extra blankets, you will find them in the closet.
- It's his proposal that there (should) not be several dozen units.
- If I should be late, I should hope that you are prepared to go on without me.
1.Something that ought to be the case as opposed to already being the case.
- However, we can address maladaptive shoulds by examining the differences between prior events, causes, proximate causes, and moral responsibility.
- When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package, the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds, is there too.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #110
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English scholde, from Old English sċolde, first and third person preterite form of sċulan (“should,” “have to,” “to owe”), the ancestor of English shall. By surface analysis, shall + -ed. Cognate with German sollte, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (skulda), Swedish skulle. Related to Middle English shild and shildy.