Complete Definition of "ought"

English

rank|subject|can't|ready|442|ought|written|arms|across

Etymology
OE. �hte, past tense of agan|�gan.

Pronunciation
IPA|/��t/
audio|en-us-ought.ogg|Audio (US)
:rhymes|��t

Verb
en-verb|inf=-|ought|-|-|-

  1. auxiliary Indicating duty or obligation.

#: You ought to vote in the coming election.

  1. auxiliary Indicating advisability or prudence.

#: You ought to stand back from the edge of the platform.

  1. auxiliary Indicating desirability.

#: You ought to have seen the film; it was very good.

  1. auxiliary Indicating likelihood or probability.

#: You ought to arrive by noon if you take the motorway.

Usage notes
Ought is an auxiliary verb; it takes a following verb as its complement. This verb may be 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

Translations
trans-top|indicating duty or obligation
Danish: burde
Finnish: pitää in conditional, tulla in conditional, kuulua in conditional
trans-mid
Portuguese: dever
Spanish: deber in either indicative or conditional.
trans-bottom

trans-top|indicating advisability or prudence
Danish: burde
Finnish: pitää in conditional
trans-mid
Portuguese: dever
Spanish: deber in either indicative or conditional.
trans-bottom

trans-top|indicating desirability
Danish: burde
Finnish: pitää in conditional
trans-mid
Portuguese: dever
Spanish: deber in either indicative or conditional.
trans-bottom

trans-top|indicating likelihood or probability
Danish: burde
Finnish: pitää in conditional
trans-mid
Portuguese: dever
Spanish: deber in either indicative or conditional.
trans-bottom

Pronoun
en-pron

  1. alternative spelling of|aught

Adverb
en-adv|-

  1. alternative spelling of|aught

See also
aught
naught
nought

References
R:Webster 1913

Category:English auxiliary verbs

zh-min-nan:ought
fa:ought
fr:ought
io:ought
it:ought
hu:ought
te:ought
vi:ought
zh:ought

Revision and Credits for"ought"
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