ought

¹

[awt]

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

1. duty or obligation.

ought

²

[awt]

noun

1. aught.

ought

¹

/ ɔːt /

verb

1. to indicate duty or obligation

   you ought to pay your dues

2. to express prudent expediency

   you ought to be more careful with your money

3. (usually with reference to future time) to express probability or expectation

   you ought to finish this work by Friday

4. to express a desire or wish on the part of the speaker

   you ought to come next week

ought

²

/ ɔːt /

pronoun

1. a variant spelling of aught 1

ought

³

/ ɔːt /

noun

1. a less common word for nought

Usage

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.

In correct English, ought is not used with did or had. I ought not to do it, not I didn't ought to do it ; I ought not to have done it, not I hadn't ought to have done it

Word History and Origins

Origin of ought¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English ought, aught, Old English āhte, past tense of āgan “to owe ”

Word History and Origins

Origin of ought¹

Old English āhte, past tense of āgan to _owe ; related to Gothic aihta

Origin of ought²

C19: mistaken division of a nought as an ought; see _nought

Synonym Study

See must ¹.

Example Sentences

Or foolhardy when this is a moment when she ought to be mustering as much authority as she can?

From BBC

And many in the party reckon she is going after the wrong customers and ought to be trying to appeal more to soft liberals or soft Tories, rather than to those interested in Reform.

From BBC

But one of Badenoch's backers suggests it's the party, not the leadership, that ought to have a word with itself.

From BBC

"The EA buyout is the largest buy-back in Wall Street history and ought to really turbo-charge EA for future growth with the capital it will deliver," he said.

From BBC

To cobble together these numbers, state regulators look at projections of population growth to accommodate the need for future homes and then tack on adjustments to account for all the homes that weren’t built in prior periods, but perhaps ought to have been.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accountability 
• agreement 
• bond 
• burden 
• commitment 
• constraint 
• contract 
• debt 
• duty 
• liability 
• necessity 
• need 
• promise 
• requirement 
• right 
• trust 
• understanding