Wiktionary

ought

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

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”).

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

ought

  1. (obsolete) simple past of owe

Verb edit

ought

  1. (auxiliary) Indicating duty or obligation.
    I ought to vote in the coming election.
  2. (auxiliary) Indicating advisability or prudence.
    You ought to stand back from the edge of the platform.
  3. (auxiliary) Indicating desirability.
    He ought to read the book; it was very good.
  4. (auxiliary) Indicating likelihood or probability.
    We ought to arrive by noon if we take the motorway.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      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 Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
Usage notes edit
  • Ought is an auxiliary verb; it takes a following verb as its complement. This following verb may appear either as a full infinitive (such as “to go”) or a bare infinitive (such as simple “go”), depending on region and speaker; the same range of meanings is possible in either case. Additionally, it's possible for ought not to take any complement, in which case a verb complement is implied, as in, “You really ought to [do so].”
  • The negative of ought is either ought not (to) or oughtn't (to) (yet oughtn't've: oughtn't *(to) have)
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
See also edit

Pronoun edit

ought

  1. Alternative spelling of aught; anything
    • 1658, Joseph Hall, The Devout Soul, Or, Rules of Heavenly Devotion Also the Free Prisoner, Or, the Comfort of Restraint:
      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?

Adverb edit

ought (not comparable)

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

Noun edit

ought (plural oughts)

  1. A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case.
    • 1996, Mortimer Jerome Adler, The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense‎[1]:
      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.
    • 2004, Jacques Maritain, John G. Trapani, Truth Matters: Essays in Honor of Jacques Maritain‎[2]:
      Is there a fallacy involved in deriving an ought from a set of exclusively factual or descriptive premises?

See also edit

References edit

Etymology 2 edit

Noun edit

ought (plural oughts)

  1. Alternative spelling of aught; cipher, zero, nought.

Anagrams edit

Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old English āht, ōht, shortening of āwiht, ōwiht.

Pronunciation edit

Pronoun edit

ought

  1. anything, everything
  2. something

Descendants edit

  • English: ought, aught, owt
  • Scots: owt
  • Yola: aught, aaght

References edit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=ought&oldid=78057156"