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 ==== (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɔːt/ Rhymes: -ɔːt (MLE) IPA(key): /ʊt/ (US) IPA(key): /ɔt/ (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ɑt/ Homophone: aught ==== Verb ==== ought (obsolete) simple past of owe ==== Verb ==== ought (auxiliary, formal, dated) Indicating duty or obligation. (auxiliary, formal, dated) Indicating advisability or prudence. (auxiliary, formal, dated) Indicating desirability. (auxiliary, formal, dated) Indicating likelihood or probability. ===== 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 [do so].” 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 Alternative spelling of aught; anything ==== Adverb ==== ought (not comparable) Alternative spelling of aught; at all, to any degree. ==== Noun ==== ought (plural oughts) A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case. ==== 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) Alternative spelling of aught; cipher, zero, nought. === 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 anything, everything something ==== Descendants ==== English: ought, aught, owt Scots: ocht Yola: aught, aaght ==== References ==== “ought, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.