naught
or nought
a cipher (0); zero.
lost; ruined.
Archaic. worthless; useless.
Obsolete. morally bad; wicked.
Obsolete. not.
Idioms about naught
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.
Origin of naught
1Words that may be confused with naught
- naught , nought
Words Nearby naught
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use naught in a sentence
If the revelation fails to move you then all that came before it was for naught.
‘Twelve Minutes’: Grueling repetition with an interesting payoff | Christopher Byrd | August 27, 2021 | Washington PostIt’s all or nothing for the House, and it’s not entirely clear the Senate can get Phase Two to the south side of the Capitol, meaning the whole $4 trillion spending dream could be for naught.
The Senate Gets Ready to Spend A Sum of Money Unseen Since World War II | Philip Elliott | August 12, 2021 | TimeOn set againAll the original programming activity would be for naught without the means of production.
Future of TV Briefing: The top trends in TV, streaming and digital video so far in 2021 | Tim Peterson | June 30, 2021 | DigidayI try to devise backup plans based on unknowable factors—whether young children will be vaccinated by then, whether it will rain that weekend, forcing us to move certain festivities inside—and I wonder if it will all be for naught.
2021 Could Be the Biggest Wedding Year Ever. But Are Guests Ready to Gather? | Eliana Dockterman | May 29, 2021 | TimeRussell Westbrook, who did not speak with reporters after the game, logged his fourth triple-double of the season for naught, scoring 22 points with 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
Wizards close the year with another loss, fall to 0-5 | Ava Wallace | January 1, 2021 | Washington Post
According to Farmaner, the reforms of 2011 have largely come to naught.
Myanmar’s Free Burma Rangers Are Like Doctors Without Borders…With Guns | James Griffiths | April 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut moments later there was a twist, and with it the fear that the prayers had been for naught.
Colleen Ritzer Is the Second U.S. Math Teacher Slain in Two Days | Michael Daly | October 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTVenus' Epic Fight, for naught Long gone are the days when Venus Williams dominated tennis, but she sure still gives it her all.
U.S. Open’s Delicious Week One: Serena and Sloane, Rafa and Roger, and More | Nicholas McCarvel | September 1, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHoping that his hi-tech marketing wiles will not go for naught, Bennett will now try to torpedo the prize ceremony.
In the end, all the praise and support from the international community was for naught.
At last he had found permanence in a life where heretofore had been naught but transience.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeThere are poets and writers who see naught in war but carrion, filth, savagery and horror.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonLetty has just had another baby, and her dairy-maid got married and left at this busy time, and I'm sick and good for naught.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieFrom that day my affairs have gone from bad to worse, and I have naught in the wide world but the clothes I stand up in.
The Merrie Tales Of Jacques Tournebroche | Anatole FranceThough they prayed thus, yet once again they found that the "prayer of the wicked availeth naught."
The Underworld | James C. Welsh
British Dictionary definitions for naught
/ (nɔːt) /
archaic, or literary nothing or nothingness; ruin or failure
a variant spelling (esp US) of nought
set at naught to have disregard or scorn for; disdain
archaic, or literary not at all: it matters naught
obsolete worthless, ruined, or wicked
Origin of naught
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with naught
see come to nothing (naught).
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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