Meaning & use
aught
Last updated
Archaic or literary term meaning "anything at all"; also used as a noun to mean "zero," especially when reading years or model numbers aloud.
See it in a sentence
If I can do aught to help, just ask.
The car was a model from ought-six, as old-timers used to say.
A note on using this word
"Aught" meaning zero comes from a historical confusion with "naught," and both spellings are used to describe the digit 0 when speaking years like "1906" as "nineteen-aught-six."
Words with a similar meaning
anything
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Another way to use it
2. noun
Used to denote the digit zero, especially in spoken years.
He was born in aught-nine.
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