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ought

 - 14 dictionary results

ought

1  [awt]
Use ought in a Sentence
–auxiliary verb
1. (used to express duty or moral obligation): Every citizen ought to help.
2. (used to express justice, moral rightness, or the like): He ought to be punished. You ought to be ashamed.
3. (used to express propriety, appropriateness, etc.): You ought to be home early. We ought to bring her some flowers.
4. (used to express probability or natural consequence): That ought to be our train now.
–noun
5. duty or obligation.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME ought, aught, OE āhte, past tense of āgan to owe

Synonyms:
1. See must 1 .

Usage note:
Ought1 forms its negative in a number of ways. Ought not occurs in all types of speech and writing and is fully standard: The conferees ought not to waste time on protocol. Oughtn't, largely a spoken form, is found mainly in the Midland and Southern dialects of the United States, where it is almost the universal form. Hadn't ought is a common spoken form in the Northern dialect area. It is sometimes condemned in usage guides and is uncommon in educated speech except of the most informal variety. Didn't ought and shouldn't ought are considered nonstandard.
Both positive and negative forms of ought are almost always followed by the infinitive form: We ought to go now. You ought not to worry about it. Occasionally, to is omitted after the negative construction: Congress ought not adjourn without considering this bill.

ought

2  [awt]
–noun, adverb
aught 1 .

ought

3  [awt]
–noun
aught 2 .

aught

1  [awt]
–noun
1. anything whatever; any part: for aught I know.
–adverb
2. Archaic. in any degree; at all; in any respect.
Also, ought.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME aught, ought, OE āht, āwiht, ōwiht, equiv. to ā, ō ever + wiht thing, wight 1

aught

2  [awt]
–noun
a cipher (0); zero.
Also, ought.

Origin:
a naught, taken as an aught (cf. auger ). See naught
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ought
aught 1 also ought   (ôt)   
pron.  Anything whatever: "Neither of his parents had aught but praise for him" (Louis Auchincloss).
adv.  Archaic In any respect; at all.

[Middle English, from Old English āuht; see aiw- in Indo-European roots.]
aught 2 also ought   (ôt)   
n.  

  1. A cipher; zero.

  2. Archaic Nothing.


[From an aught, alteration of a naught; see naught.]
ought 1   (ôt)   
aux.v.  

  1. Used to indicate obligation or duty: You ought to work harder than that.

  2. Used to indicate advisability or prudence: You ought to wear a raincoat.

  3. Used to indicate desirability: You ought to have been there; it was great fun.

  4. Used to indicate probability or likelihood: She ought to finish by next week.


[Middle English oughten, to be obliged to, from oughte, owned, from Old English āhte, past tense of āgan, to possess; see aik- in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: Unlike other auxiliary verbs, ought usually takes to with its accompanying verb: We ought to go. Sometimes the accompanying verb is dropped if the meaning is clear: Should we begin soon? Yes, we ought to. In questions and negative sentences, especially those with contractions, to is also sometimes omitted: Oughtn't we be going soon? This omission of to, however, is not common in written English. Like must and auxiliary need, ought to does not change to show past tense: He said we ought to get moving along. · Usages such as He hadn't ought to come and She shouldn't ought to say that are common in many varieties of American English. They should be avoided in written English, however, in favor of the more standard variant ought not to.
ought 2   (ôt)   
pron.   & adv.
Variant of aught1.
ought 3   (ôt)   
n.  Variant of aught2.
ought 4   (ôt)   
v.   Obsolete
A past participle of owe.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

ought  (v.)
O.E. ahte, pt. of agan "to own, possess, owe" (see owe). As a past tense of owe, it shared in that word's evolution and meant at times in M.E. "possessed" and "under obligation to pay." It has been detached from owe since 17c., though he aught me ten pounds is recorded as active in E.Anglian dialect from c.1825. As an auxiliary verb expressing duty or obligation (c.1175, the main modern use), it represents the past subjunctive.

ought  (n.)
"zero, cipher," 1844, probably a misdivision of a nought (see nought), meaning probably influenced by aught "anything" (q.v.).

aught  (1)
"something," O.E. awiht "aught, anything, something," lit. "e'er a whit," from P.Gmc. *aiwi "ever" (from PIE *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity.") + *wihti "thing, anything whatever" (see wight). In Shakespeare, Milton and Pope, aught and ought occur indiscriminately.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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