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shoulda

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Written form of a reduction of should have.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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shoulda (past subjunctive)

  1. (colloquial) Contraction of should have.
    You shoulda told him the truth.

Usage notes

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Like other similarly formed contractions, speakers only use shoulda to replace the modal sense of should have, i.e. where have precedes a past participle:  You shoulda gone. They do not use it to replace should followed by the verb have used lexically, e.g.  You shoulda some patience. See also gonna.

Derived terms

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See also

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