should

Meanings

Plural: shoulds

Verb

Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.
Used to issue an instruction (traditionally seen as carrying less force of authority than alternatives such as 'shall' or 'must').
Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.
Used to give advice or opinion that an action is, or would have been, beneficial or desirable.
Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.
With verbs such as 'see' or 'hear', usually in the second person, used to point out something remarkable in either a good or bad way.
Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.
In questions, asks what is correct, proper, desirable, etc.
Ought to; expressing expectation.
Indicates that something is expected to have happened or to be the case now.
Ought to; expressing expectation.
Will be likely to (become or do something); indicates a degree of possibility or probability that the stated thing will happen or be true in the future.
Used to form a variant of the present subjunctive, expressing a state or action that is hypothetical, potential, mandated, etc.
simple past of shall
An alternative to would with first person subjects.
Used to express a conditional outcome.
An alternative to would with first person subjects.
Used to impart a tentative, conjectural or polite nuance.
An alternative to would with first person subjects.
Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.
To make a statement of what ought to be true, as opposed to reality.

Noun

Something that ought to be the case as opposed to already being the case.

Origin / 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.
The loss of /l/ in this word is probably due to weak stress, as in would and could (though in the latter, the letter l was originally silent before becoming a spelling pronunciation).

Synonyms

ought, were

Antonyms

shouldn't

Scrabble Score: 10

should is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
should is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
should is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

should is a valid Words With Friends word