Meaning of cannot help but | Babel Free

Definitions

Forma verbal. Verb. [C1]

Examples

“As we drove at breakneck speed⟳ through the streets, I could not help⟳ but be overwhelmed by the gaunt and desperate faces of the people, the endless squatter settlements of cheek-by-jowl, single-room shacks surrounded by ankle-deep mud, and the occasional glimpses of the rich apparently oblivious to the suffering around them.”

“Radulph could not help⟳ but notice⟳ how the breasts of a lady flugelhornist trembled whenever she blew into her instrument.”

“Standing on top of Trash Mountain (our local megadump) and affirming the Messianic promise⟳ of the kingdom of heaven, we cannot help⟳ but take⟳ responsibility for recycling and reducing consumption.”

“I cannot help⟳ but follow⟳ such panopticism to its ultimate conclusion: a Nineteen Eighty-Four scenario.”

“One cannot help⟳ but wonder⟳ whether the concerns ultimately had root in the presence of a diminutive, pileous, and swarthy Mediterranean atop a military vehicle, instead of our accepted Anglo-Saxon image of leadership and might.”

“The first thing Joe noticed was the seating arrangements — Katz at the head of the long antique cherry wood table, John Nagoshi to his right, Peter Nagoshi next to his father (and Joe could not help⟳ but study⟳ the younger Nagoshhi as he entered the room, his smooth expressionless face⟳ barely turning to acknowledge their entrance), and across the table FBI Boston Field Office Special Agent in Charge Leo King and Special Agent Ned Jacobs — the Feeb's resident profiler.”

“Every guest is appalled and fantastically humourless about the experience⟳, even at this distance. You cannot help⟳ but wonder⟳ at cultural divides and how differently the British might have⟳ approached – or at least recalled – such events, at least in the early days. For us, surely, it would be a story for the ages. You could dine out on it for ever, so to speak⟳.”

CEFR level