ought

English

Etymology 1

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɔt/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɑt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: aught

Verb

ought

1. (obsolete) simple past of owe
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke vij:[41], folio lxxxvj, recto:

     There was a certayne lender / which had two detters / the one ought five hondred pence / and the other fifty.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Friendship”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book I, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC, page 90:

     […] witneſſe Ariſtippus, who being vrged with the affection he ought his children, as proceeding from his loynes, began to ſpeake and ſpit […].

Verb

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

• 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 .”
• The negative of ought is either ought not (to) or oughtn't (to) (yet oughtn't've: oughtn't *(to) have)

Synonyms

• should (In all senses)
• be supposed to

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ought to
• Appendix:English modal verbs
• Appendix:English tag questions

Pronoun

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

ought (not comparable)

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

Noun

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:

     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:

     Is there a fallacy involved in deriving an ought from a set of exclusively factual or descriptive premises?

See also

• aught
• naught
• nought

References

• “ought”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ought”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

Noun

ought (plural oughts)

1. Alternative spelling of aught; cipher, zero, nought.
   • 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Nicholas and His Uncle (to Secure the Fortune Without Loss of Time) Wait upon Mr. Wackford Squeers, the Yorkshire Schoolmaster”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1839, →OCLC, page 24:

     I go back at eight o'clock to-morrow morning, and have got only three—three oughts an ought—three twos six—sixty pound.

Anagrams

• tough

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ouȝt, eawiht, aht, aught, auht, aut

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔu̯xt/, /au̯xt/

Pronoun

ought

1. anything, everything
2. something

Descendants

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

References

• “ought, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.