naught

Or nought

[nawt]

noun

1. nothing.

2. a cipher (0); zero.

adjective

1. lost; ruined.

2. Archaic.,  worthless; useless.

3. Obsolete.,  morally bad; wicked.

adverb

1. Obsolete.,  not.

naught

/ nɔːt /

noun

1. archaic,  nothing or nothingness; ruin or failure

2. a variant spelling (esp US) of nought

3. to have disregard or scorn for; disdain

adverb

1. archaic,  not at all

   it matters naught

adjective

1. obsolete,  worthless, ruined, or wicked

Word History and Origins

Origin of naught¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English nauht, nāwiht ( nā no ¹ + wiht thing). See nought, wight ¹, whit

Word History and Origins

Origin of naught¹

Old English nāwiht, from nā _no ¹ + wiht thing, person; see _wight ¹ , _whit

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. come to naught, to come to nothing; be without result or fruition; fail.

2. set at naught, to regard or treat as of no importance; disdain.

   He entered a milieu that set his ideals at naught.

see come to nothing (naught).

Example Sentences

The prayers are not for naught, Dolly Parton told fans on Wednesday.

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Otherwise, all of the dinosaur danger is for naught.

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But it was all for naught: On Thursday, Tamaulipas prosecutors confirmed that authorities had discovered the bodies of the five at an unspecified site in Reynosa.

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All that brainpower would have been for naught, however, save for the beneficence of Uncle Sam.

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He was naught to know that the Palisades and Eaton fires would go on to burn more than double the urban acreage that Woolsey had.

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