I. MODAL USES
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: 'Might' is a modal verb. It is used with the base form of a verb.
Please look at category 13 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
You use ~ to indicate that something will possibly happen or be true in the future, but you cannot be certain.
Smoking ~ be banned totally in most buildings...
I ~ well regret it later...
He said he ~ not be back until tonight.
= may
MODAL vagueness
2.
You use ~ to indicate that there is a possibility that something is true, but you cannot be certain.
She and Simon’s father had not given up hope that he ~ be alive...
You ~ be right...
= may
MODAL vagueness
3.
You use ~ to indicate that something could happen or be true in particular circumstances.
America ~ sell more cars to the islands if they were made with the steering wheel on the right.
...the type of person who ~ appear in a fashion magazine.
= could
MODAL vagueness
4.
You use ~ have with a past participle to indicate that it is possible that something happened or was true, or when giving a possible explanation for something.
I heard what ~ have been an explosion...
She thought the shooting ~ have been an accident...
= could have
MODAL
5.
You use ~ have with a past participle to indicate that something was a possibility in the past, although it did not actually happen.
Had the bomb dropped over a populated area of the city, there ~ have been a great deal of damage...
MODAL
6.
You use ~ in statements where you are accepting the truth of a situation, but contrasting it with something that is more important.
They ~ not have two cents to rub together, but at least they have a kind of lifestyle that is different.
= may
MODAL
7.
You use ~ when you are saying emphatically that someone ought to do the thing mentioned, especially when you are annoyed because they have not done it.
You ~ have told me that before!
= could
MODAL emphasis
8.
You use ~ to make a suggestion or to give advice in a very polite way.
They ~ be wise to stop advertising on television...
You ~ try the gas station down the street...
MODAL politeness
9.
You use ~ as a polite way of interrupting someone, asking a question, making a request, or introducing what you are going to say next. (FORMAL, SPOKEN)
Might I make a suggestion?...
Might I draw your readers’ attention to the dangers in the Government’s proposal.
= could
MODAL politeness
10.
You use ~ in expressions such as as you ~ expect and as you ~ imagine in order to indicate that the statement you are making is not surprising.
‘How’s Jan?’ she asked.—‘Bad. As you ~ expect.’...
The drivers, as you ~ imagine, didn’t care much for that.
= would
MODAL
11.
You use ~ in expressions such as I ~ add and I ~ say in order to emphasize a statement that you are making.
It didn’t come as a great surprise to me, I ~ say.
MODAL emphasis
12.
You use ~ in expressions such as I ~ have known and I ~ have guessed to indicate that you are not surprised at a disappointing event or fact.
‘I detest clutter, you know.’—‘I didn’t know, but I ~ have guessed.’
= should
MODAL
13.
~ as well: see well
II. NOUN USES
1.
Might is power or strength. (FORMAL)
The ~ of the army could prove a decisive factor.
= strength
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp
2.
If you do something with all your ~, you do it using all your strength and energy.
She swung the hammer at his head with all her ~.
PHRASE: PHR with v