ought

Alternative spelling of aught; at all, to any degree.

Adverb

  1. Alternative spelling of aught; at all, to any degree.

Origin

From Middle English oughte, aughte, aȝte, ahte, from Old English āhte, first and third person singular past tense of Old English āgan (“to own, possess”), equivalent to owe + -t. Cognate with Sanskrit ईश्वर (īśvará, “capable of, liable”).

Noun auxiliary, dialectal

  1. A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case.
    • There are value judgments that are not reducible to observable matters of fact, and there are oughts that cannot be construed as hypothetical and, therefore, cannot be converted into statements of fact. - 1996, Mortimer...
    • Is there a fallacy involved in deriving an ought from a set of exclusively factual or descriptive premises? - 2004, Jacques Maritain, John G. Trapani, Truth Matters: Essays in Honor of Jacques Maritain:

Forms

oughts

Related

aught naught nought

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative spelling of aught; cipher, zero, nought.
    • I go back at eight o'clock to-morrow morning, and have got only three—three oughts an ought—three twos six—sixty pound. - 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Nicholas and His Uncle (to Secure the Fortune...

Forms

oughts

Pronoun

  1. Alternative spelling of aught; anything
    • Is it a small benefit, that I am placed there […] where I see no drunken comessations, no rebellious routs, no violent oppressions, no obscene rejoicings, nor ought else that might either vex or affright my soul? -...

Verb auxiliary, dialectal

  1. Indicating duty or obligation.
    • I ought to vote in the coming election.
  2. Indicating advisability or prudence.
    • You ought to always stand back from the edge of the platform.
    • Do you think we ought to leave now?

    Synonyms: should

  3. Indicating desirability.
    • He ought to read the book; it was very good.

    Synonyms: should

  4. Indicating likelihood or probability.
    • We ought to arrive by noon if we take the motorway, shouldn't we?
    • My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to...

    Synonyms: should

Related

ought to

Derived

hadn't ought had ought is-ought problem no better than one ought to be oughtism oughtness ought-not-ness there ought to be a law

Verb form of, obsolete

  1. simple past of owe
    • There was a certayne lender / which had two detters / the one ought five hondred pence / and the other fifty. - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer],...
    • […]witneſſe Ariſtippus, who being vrged with the affection he ought his children, as proceeding from his loynes, began to ſpeake and ſpit[…]. - 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Friendship”, in John Florio, transl., The...