mightn't
- 1Contraction of 'might not', expressing that something is possibly not the case or may not come to pass.
The package mightn't arrive before the weekend if the weather worsens.
"But at night she would still think the same thing: mightn't it be that he wouldn't come to see her anymore?"
1974, Mario Vargas Llosa, Conversation in the Cathedral: A NovelNote
Built from might plus the clitic n't, this contraction is uncommon. It does its most distinctive work in inverted questions, where the negative turns a doubt into a gentle suggestion: Perry Mason asks, "mightn't there have been something unusual about the Stimatis contract itself?" (1963). In plain statements, as in Mary Hunter Austin's Starry Adventure (1931), the open might not is the safer everyday choice.
Mightn't it be wiser to wait until the morning?
But mightn't she have left before the storm began?
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Origin
Formed from "might" combined with the contraction "n't", meaning "not".