naught

or nought

[nawt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR naught ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

nothing.

a cipher (0); zero.

adjective

lost; ruined.

Archaic. worthless; useless.

Obsolete. morally bad; wicked.

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.

Origin of naught

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

Can be confusednaught nought

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for naught

nothing, cipher, zilch, nonexistence, insignificant, useless, worthless

Examples from the Web for naught

Contemporary Examples of naught

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
But 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
Venus' 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
Hoping that his hi-tech marketing wiles will not go for naught, Bennett will now try to torpedo the prize ceremony.
The Game Show of Israeli Politics
Don Futterman
August 2, 2013
In the end, all the praise and support from the international community was for naught.
Why Palestinians Welcomed Fayyad’s Resignation
Maysoon Zayid
April 16, 2013

Historical Examples of naught

So it seemed that they had naught to fear, save the daily chance of life and death.
Fair Margaret
H. Rider Haggard
Of that performance let naught be spoken, save in reverence.
Meadow Grass
Alice Brown
I mind the time when her yellow arms were naught but bone and parchment.
The Uncommercial Traveller
Charles Dickens
They, having eaten, had naught to do, and were only waiting a decent hour for departure.
The Gentleman From Indiana
Booth Tarkington
This time he thought he was dead himself; he was naught but an empty sepulchre.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for naught

naught

noun

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

adverb

archaic, or literary not at allit matters naught

adjective

obsolete worthless, ruined, or wicked

Word Origin for naught

Old English nāwiht, from nā no 1 + wiht thing, person; see wight 1, whit

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for naught

Old English nawiht "nothing," lit "no whit," from na "no" (from PIE root *ne- "no, not;" see un- (1)) + wiht "thing, creature, being" (see wight). Cognate with Old Saxon neowiht "nothing," Old High German niwiht, Gothic ni waihts. It also developed an adjectival sense in Old English, "good for nothing," which by mid-16c. had focused to "morally bad, wicked." In arithmetic, "the figure zero" from 1640s.

Idioms and Phrases with naught

naught

see come to nothing (naught).