naught

Meanings

1. 1noununcountableliterary

   Nothing at all.

   Grammar: Appears mainly in fixed phrases: all for naught, come to naught.

   Patterns

   • come to naught
   • for naught

   All our planning came to naught when the rain started.

   They worked for months for naught.

   Years of effort were reduced to naught.

2. 2nouncountableBritishold-fashioned

   The number zero, especially as a digit.

   Grammar: British usage; American speakers say zero.

   Patterns

   • a naught

   Add a naught to the end of the number.

   The code is two naughts followed by a five.

   He wrote three naughts after the one.

Word forms

Common combinations

come to naught

His grand schemes came to naught.

all for naught

The long trip was all for naught.

set at naught

They set the warnings at naught.

count for naught

Her opinion counted for naught.

reduce to naught

The storm reduced the harvest to naught.

Synonyms and how they differ

nothing

Nothing is the everyday word and works in all situations, while naught sounds literary or old.

zero

Zero is the normal number word, and naught is a quaint British alternative.

nil

Nil is used in British sport scores and statistics, not in general speech.

nought

Nought is the usual British spelling for the digit zero.

Opposites

Word family

naughty adjective

once meant wicked, now means badly behaved

nought noun

variant spelling of naught

aught pronoun

anything, the old opposite of naught

Commonly confused: naught or naughty? naught or nought?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “naught”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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