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Naught

[nawt]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

nothing.

a cipher (0); zero.

adjective

lost; ruined.

Archaic. worthless; useless.

Obsolete. morally bad; wicked.

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Naught is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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adverb

Obsolete. not.

Idioms

come to naught, to come to nothing; be without result or fruition; fail.

set at naught, to regard or treat as of no importance; disdain: He entered a milieu that set his ideals at naught.

Also, nought.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English nauht, nāwiht (nā no¹ + wiht thing). See nought, wight¹, whit

Can be confused: naught, nought.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Naught

Example Sentences

Sometimes those things don't even appear and you are worrying for naught.

Indeed, for all the reformists' brave vows, their promised showdowns have all come to naught.

These set off a storm in the academic community, and they come to naught.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

naught (nɔːt)

—n
1.	archaic, literary or nothing or nothingness; ruin or failure
2.	a variant spelling (esp US) of nought
3.	set at naught to have disregard or scorn for; disdain

—*adv*
4.	archaic, literary or not at all: it matters naught

—*adj*
5.	obsolete worthless, ruined, or wicked

[Old English nāwiht, from nāno¹ + wiht thing, person; see wight¹, whit]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

naught

O.E. nawiht "nothing," lit "no whit," from na "no" (from PIE base *ne- "no, not;" see un- (1)) + wiht "thing, creature, being" (see wight).

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

naught

see come to nothing (naught).