ought1
[awt]
- (used to express duty or moral obligation): Every citizen ought to help.
- (used to express justice, moral rightness, or the like): He ought to be punished. You ought to be ashamed.
- (used to express propriety, appropriateness, etc.): You ought to be home early. We ought to bring her some flowers.
- (used to express probability or natural consequence): That ought to be our train now.
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- duty or obligation.
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Origin of ought1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for ought on Thesaurus.com1. See must1.
Usage note
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.
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.
ought2
[awt]
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ought3
[awt]
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aught1
or ought
[awt]
- anything whatever; any part: for aught I know.
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- Archaic. in any degree; at all; in any respect.
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Origin of aught1
before 1000; Middle English aught, ought, Old English āht, āwiht, ōwiht, equivalent to ā, ō ever + wiht thing, wight1
aught2
or ought
[awt]
- a cipher (0); zero.
- aughts, the first decade of any century, especially the years 1900 through 1909 or 2000 through 2009.
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Origin of aught2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ought
Contemporary Examples
When companies do bad things they ought to be held accountable for them.
Why Do ‘Progressives’ Want to Ban Uber and AirBnB?Adam Thierer, Christopher Koopman
December 30, 2014
We ought to seek Chinese cooperation in a response to this North Korean act of aggression.
Then when we arrive at his flat in Shepherd's Bush following the escape, perhaps there ought to be remnants of the ladder.
The officers explained that those Sikhs had been lynched to death and that Singh ought to anticipate the same fate for himself.
As 30-Year Anniversary of Mass Killings in India Arrives, Sikhs Find Safety in USASimran Jeet Singh
October 31, 2014
“Novelist good for nothing else,” said Samuel Beckett, and that ought to be taken as a compliment.
Historical Examples
I know that I have spoken of him as I ought not to have spoken.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
He decided he ought to think more about what he was doing and what he should do.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
And yet there ought to be so much to do here; it's all so fresh and roomy and jolly.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
I ought to be supple enough after the practice of these three days.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
But all the while, the days grew shorter and the nights were colder than they ought to have been.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
ought1
- to indicate duty or obligationyou ought to pay your dues
- to express prudent expediencyyou ought to be more careful with your money
- (usually with reference to future time) to express probability or expectationyou ought to finish this work by Friday
- to express a desire or wish on the part of the speakeryou ought to come next week
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Word Origin
Old English āhte, past tense of āgan to owe; related to Gothic aihta
usage
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
ought2
- a variant spelling of aught 1
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ought3
- a less common word for nought (def. 1)
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Word Origin
C19: mistaken division of a nought as an ought; see nought
aught1
ought used with a negative or in conditional or interrogative sentences or clauses
archaic, or literary
- anything at all; anything whatever (esp in the phrase for aught I know)
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- dialect in any least part; to any degree
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Word Origin
Old English āwiht, from ā ever, ay 1 + wiht thing; see wight 1
aught2
ought
- a less common word for nought
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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 ought
v.
Old English ahte "owned, possessed," past tense of agan "to own, possess, owe" (see owe). As a past tense of owe, it shared in that word's evolution and meant at times in Middle English "possessed" and "under obligation to pay." It has been detached from owe since 17c., though he aught me ten pounds is recorded as active in East Anglian dialect from c.1825. As an auxiliary verb expressing duty or obligation (late 12c., the main modern use), it represents the past subjunctive.
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aught
n.1
"something," Old English awiht "aught, anything, something," literally "e'er a whit," from Proto-Germanic *aiwi "ever" (from PIE *aiw- "vital force, life, long life, eternity;" see eon) + *wihti "thing, anything whatever" (see wight). In Shakespeare, Milton and Pope, aught and ought occur indiscriminately.
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aught
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper