English

Verb

ought

1. (obsolete) simple past tense of owe
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke VII:

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

   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.182:

     witnesse Aristippus, who being urged with the affection he ought his children, as proceeding from his loynes, began to 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.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     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.

   We ought to arrive by noon if we take the motorway.‎

Usage notes

• Ought is an auxiliary verb; it takes a following verb as its complement. This 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)

Synonyms

• should (In all senses)

See also

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

Translations

Pronoun

ought

1. Alternative spelling of aught anything
   • Bishop Joseph Hall

     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.

See also

• aught
• naught
• nought

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?

References

• ought in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ought at OneLook Dictionary Search

Etymology 2

Noun

ought ‎(plural oughts)

1. Alternative spelling of aught, cipher, zero, nought.
   • Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

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

Statistics

Anagrams

• tough