should
Pronunciation: /ʃəd/
The English word “should” has 12 meanings listed here.
verb
- Used to issue an instruction (traditionally seen as carrying less force of authority than alternatives such as 'shall' or 'must').
- Used to give advice or opinion that an action is, or would have been, beneficial 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.
- In questions, asks what is correct, proper, desirable, etc.
- Indicates that something is expected to have happened or to be the case now.
- 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.
- Used to express a conditional outcome.
- Used to impart a tentative, conjectural or polite nuance.
- Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.
- To suggest (that someone ought to do something, or that something ought to be the case) by, or as if by, using the word should.
noun
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…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.