- a variation of naught.
nought
Americannoun
noun
noun
Usage
What does nought mean? Nought means nothing or none, as in All of my efforts at winning the game were for nought because I lost badly. Nought also refers to zero. For example, if your math class is in Room One-Nought-Seven, it is in Room 107. The informal term noughties for the decade of 2000–2009 comes from this sense. Nought is an alternate spelling of naught, which has the exact same meaning. Example: I had nought to do with breaking the lamp, but my mother still thought I was involved.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of nought
before 900; Middle English; Old English nōht, contraction of nōwiht, equivalent to ne not + ōwiht aught 1
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.
See Examples For:
After 10 balls on nought he began the counter, often advancing down the pitch.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
When he did so for the first time against Glamorgan in the previous round of the Championship, he was out for four and nought.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
History has taught you that pouring out your time, energy and emotions will similarly come to nought.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 3, 2026
On nought not out at the end of the second day of the third Test against Pakistan at The Oval, Cook was convinced he was playing his last Test innings before being dropped.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
There is nought but this to report; nought to consider.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Working with just ones, noughts, and a saucerful of secrets, these ground-breaking artists stand front and centre of any modern corporate or commerical strategy.
From Forbes ● Jun. 30, 2015
Come the naughty noughts, bulging upper-body muscles were eventually co-opted by the Jersey Shore crowd whereupon they gradually lost much of their frisson.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2015
He said the first programs he intended to run on his mega processor were likely to be Tetris, noughts and crosses and 1970s evolutionary simulation Life by mathematician John Conway.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2015
A standard calculator only has room for seven noughts.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2015
I don't think I ever heard it called "noughts and crosses."
From A Tangled Tale by Frost, A. B. (Arthur Burdett)
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.
