gotta
gotta Lexical Profile
gotta Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To have to do something, or to be obligated or required to take a specific action (used as an informal contraction of "got to" or "have got to" followed by an infinitive).
"I gotta finish this report before the office closes for the weekend."
To have or possess a single thing (used as an informal contraction of "got a" or "have got a" followed by a singular noun phrase).
"Have you gotta spare pen I could borrow for the meeting?"
Word Nuance & Usage
"Gotta" is a casual spoken contraction of "(have) got to" or "(have) got a" and is inappropriate in formal or academic writing. Syntactically, it does not inflect for tense or person and is followed directly by a bare infinitive or a singular noun.
• Rhymes for gotta
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the early 20th century as an eye-dialect spelling representing the rapid, informal pronunciation of "got to" or "got a", often with the auxiliary verb "have" omitted.