aught

pronoun

\ ˈȯt

, ˈät\

Definition of aught

(Entry 1 of 3)

1 : anything

2 : all, everything for aught I care for aught we know

aught

adverb

Definition of aught (Entry 2 of 3)

archaic

: at all

aught

noun

Definition of aught (Entry 3 of 3)

1 : zero, cipher

2 archaic : nonentity, nothing

3 aughts plural : the ten year period from 2000 through 2009 By the middle of the aughts, … the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents reached 20 percent, nearly double what it was in 1970.— Don Peck

Synonyms Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about aught

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Did You Know?

Pronoun

If you know aught which does behove my knowledge / Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not / In ignorant concealment, Polixenes begs Camillo in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, employing the "anything" sense of "aught." Shakespeare didn't coin the pronoun "aught," which has been a part of the English language since before the 12th century, but he did put it to frequent use. Writers today may be less likely to use "aught" than were their literary predecessors, but the pronoun does continue to turn up occasionally. "Aught" can also be a noun meaning "zero," and for a while the phrase "the aughts" was bandied about as a proposed label for the decade that began in the year 2000.

Examples of aught in a Sentence

Noun

for dates, the year is automatically listed as a pair of aughts, so the user has to scroll down to the correct figure

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

But in the aughts, the then-emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, wanted a more potent symbol of national identity. — Julie Lasky, ELLE Decor, "ED First Look: The National Museum of Qatar," 26 Mar. 2019 Just figuring out how to handle your pets remains—cremation, burial, hanging in a vial around your neck like how Angelina Jolie carried around Billy Bob Thornton's blood in the early aughts—is difficult. — Elizabeth Gulino, House Beautiful, "You Can Now Turn Your Pet Into a Diamond After They Pass Away," 1 Apr. 2019 Though popular memory largely places Furbys in the late ’90s and early aughts, a nostalgia object with a bunch of odd quirks, Furbys are actually a continuing source of revenue for a company in the ever-fluctuating toy industry. — Kaitlyn Tiffany, Vox, "Every Furby gets a home," 21 Dec. 2018 There’s a vest made from curly sheepskin in canary and yolk yellows, and a coat in gray with hints of pink inspired by Justin Timberlake’s frosted tips in the early aughts. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "Eckhaus Latta Reimagines the Ugg With a Deliciously Square Toe," 9 Feb. 2019 Originally together in the early aughts, Helen Back & Str8 Razors reunite mixing their New York Dolls-meets-Siouxsie and the Banshees sound. — Grace Dickinson, Philly.com, "Justin Timberlake, Philadelphia Burger Brawl, 11th Wanamaker Court Organ Day, and other events happening in Philadelphia, June 1-7," 31 May 2018 On Monday night, smack in the middle of the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, fans of The Hills were #blessed to learn that their beloved mid-aughts reality show would be rebooted as The Hills: New Beginnings, premiering sometime in 2019. — Andrea Park, Teen Vogue, "Here's Why "The Hills: New Beginnings" Won't Include Lauren Conrad or Kristin Cavallari," 21 Aug. 2018 Frasch, the former Saks executive, says that today’s showiness surpasses even mid-aughts levels of excess. — Eliza Brooke, Vox, "How the Great Recession influenced a decade of design," 27 Dec. 2018 In short, Kendall was proving with each and every look that the early-aughts are here to stay—at least for another season. — Avery Matera, Teen Vogue, "Kendall Jenner Wore Lingerie on the Beach and It Was Genius," 19 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aught.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.