naught
Americanadjective
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lost; ruined.
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Archaic. worthless; useless.
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Obsolete. morally bad; wicked.
adverb
idioms
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come to naught, to come to nothing; be without result or fruition; fail.
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set at naught, to regard or treat as of no importance; disdain.
He entered a milieu that set his ideals at naught.
noun
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archaic nothing or nothingness; ruin or failure
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a variant spelling (esp US) of nought
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to have disregard or scorn for; disdain
adverb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of naught
before 900; Middle English; Old English nauht, nāwiht ( nā no 1 + wiht thing). See nought, wight 1, whit
Explanation
When things come to naught, they've come to nothing. If you feel bad about ending up with nothing, you can also say "It was all for naught!" Have you ever put a lot of work into something and all you ended up with was nada, nil, nothing, zero, zilch, and zip? Then your efforts came to naught. Naught is a word for nothing that is used in specific ways, usually when a project or effort comes to naught.
Vocabulary lists containing naught
100 SAT Words Beginning with "N"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yakima County Superior Court Judge Kevin Naught ordered the woman released on court supervision, noting that the public safety concerns did not overcome the presumption of release.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 15, 2024
Naught to do but wait; someday I’ll revive.
From Washington Post • Aug. 3, 2017
July 22, 2013, 8:14 pm A Towering Fine for Naught, as the S.E.C.
From New York Times • Jul. 23, 2013
Food for Naught Does sending food aid to struggling nations do more harm than good?
From Slate • Feb. 1, 2012
Naught to make a fire with, for a start; and naught to cook, not even grass!’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
