noun
Meaning 1
Nothingness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
naught
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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nôt
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Received-Pronunciation: /nɔːt/
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Australian, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard: /noːt/
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/nɔt/ without the cot–caught merger
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cot-caught-merger: /nɑt/
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US: cot-caught Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Canada: /nɒt/
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Scotland: /nɔt/
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rhymes with -ɔːt
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homophone: nought
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homophone: not
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homophone: knot (both cot–caught merger)
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CMU ARPABET: N AO1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Alternative spelling of nought.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, alt-of, alternative, countable, dated, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
num
Meaning 3
Alternative spelling of nought (“zero”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
pron
Meaning 4
Nothing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Naught can come of this, you mark my words.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
complete failure
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- all my efforts led to naught
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: failure
noun
Meaning 6
a quantity of no importance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- it looked like nothing I had ever seen before
- reduced to nil all the work we had done
- we racked up a pathetic goose egg
- it was all for naught
- I didn't hear zilch about it
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: nothing, nil, nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher, goose egg, zero, zilch, zip, zippo
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: relative quantity
Narrower terms: nihil, bugger all, fuck all, Fanny Adams, sweet Fanny Adams
History
Etymology
From the Middle English naught, nought, naht, nawiht, from Old English nawiht. Cognate with West Frisian neat (“nothing, naught”). Doublet of nought. Equivalent to ne + aught.
Across languages
Translations
7 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Chinese Mandarin: 无 (wú) — nothingness
- Czech: nicota — nothingness
- German: Nichts — nothingness
- Middle English: nought — nothingness
- Polish: nicość — nothingness
- Portuguese: nada — nothingness
- Russian: ничто́ (ništó) — nothingness