nought

[nawt]

noun

1. naught.

nought

/ nɔːt /

noun

1. the digit 0; zero: used esp in counting or numbering

noun

1. a variant spelling of naught

Word History and Origins

Origin of nought¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English nōht, contraction of nōwiht, equivalent to ne not + ōwiht aught ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of nought¹

Old English nōwiht, from ne not, no + ōwiht something; see _whit

Example Sentences

“Who or what was I, any longer? My life, the life of London . . . of home and work . . . all that had somehow been set at nought, in the space of little more than a day.”

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On nought, Knight was given out caught behind on the field but the third umpire overturned it, saying there "inconclusive" evidence there was no bat.

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If they had caught Ravindra Jadeja on nought in Manchester, or any of the six they dropped in India's second innings here, it might have been different.

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Crawley was on nought for 13 balls, finally taking a single off his 14th.

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He got me out next ball for nought.

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Related Words

• nonentity 

When To Use

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.