naught

1 of 3

pronoun (1)

ˈnȯt  ˈnät 

variants or less commonly nought

: nothing

Their efforts came to naught.

It was all for naught.

naught

2 of 3

noun

variants or less commonly nought

1

: nothingness, nonexistence

2

: the arithmetical symbol 0 : zero, cipher

nought

3 of 3

pronoun (2)

less common spelling of naught

: nothing

Their efforts came to naught.

It was all for naught.

Synonyms of naught

Noun

• nothing
• zero
• aught

Examples of naught in a Sentence

Noun

my locker number is naught-seven-two

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Skubal scattered three hits and struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings, which would have gone for naught without the Hernández and Pages home runs. — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026

Tulsa’s visions of a Top-25 kind of season appear for naught. — ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026

For 58 minutes on Thursday, Colorado’s offense and special teams appeared to be letting a dominant defensive performance go for naught. — Seth Emerson, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Though there is still no fix for the mutation, the subsequent research spawned by the work of Fraumeni, Li, and other pioneers hasn’t been for naught. — Lawrence Ingrassia, STAT, 26 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Pronoun (1) and Noun

Middle English nought, from Old English nāwiht, from nā no + wiht creature, thing — more at no, wight

First Known Use

Pronoun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing naught

• all for naught
• come to naught
• go for naught

Rhymes for naught

• aught
• baht
• blot
• bott
• bought
• brought
• caught
• clot
• cot
• cott
• dot
• fought

Kids Definition

naught

1 of 2 pronoun

variants also nought

ˈnȯt, 

ˈnät

: nothing entry 1 sense 2

their efforts came to naught

naught

2 of 2 noun

variants also nought

1

: the quality or state of being nothing : nonexistence

2

: zero entry 1 sense 1 see number