can't wait

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

can't wait (third-person singular simple present can't wait, no present participle, simple past couldn't wait, no past participle)

1. (idiomatic) To eagerly anticipate; to find it hard to wait for a forthcoming pleasurable event.

   I can't wait for that party on Friday.

2. To need to be attended to right away.

   I'm afraid this can't wait; it has to be done by Thursday.

Derived terms

• can wait

Translations

to eagerly anticipate — see also look forward to

• Arabic: لَا اَسْتَطِيع اَلاِنْتِظَار (lā astaṭīʕ al-intiẓār)
• Czech: těšit se (cs)
• Finnish: ei malttaa odottaa
• French: avoir hâte (fr)
• German: kaum erwarten können
• Hungarian: alig vár (hu)
• Italian: non vedere l'ora
• Japanese: 楽しみにする (tanoshimi ni suru)
• Portuguese: não ver a hora
• Romanian: abia aștepta
• Russian: (1st person examples) жду не дожду́сь (ždu ne doždúsʹ), жду с нетерпе́нием (ždu s neterpénijem)
• Spanish: no ver la hora
• Turkish: iple çekmek (tr), dört gözle beklemek (tr)