From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmight-have-beensˈmight-have-ˌbeens noun [plural] REGRET/FEEL SORRYthings that you wish had happened in the past but which never did
Examples from the Corpus
might-have-beens• Byways of history, particularly might-have-beens, also suit the form well.• We like to think about the might-have-beens.• Looking at the might-have-beens of stylistic variation is a way of making the elusive quality of good writing open to inspection.• It takes some imagination to share the contradictions, the unrealised hopes, the might-have-beens, of the past.• This book is not concerned, however, with might-have-beens but with the facts as they were, so far as can be told. 