OUGHT
What does "OUGHT" mean?
Used to express duty, advisability, or strong probability.
Meanings
- Used as an auxiliary to indicate moral obligation or what is the right thing to do. You ought to apologize before you leave.
- Used to express what is advisable or expected to happen. The train ought to arrive any minute now.
Did you know?
- David Hume, writing in 1739, pointed out that arguments quietly slide from describing what 'is' to declaring what 'ought' to be - a gap so famous it is now called the is-ought problem.
Word origin
From Old English 'ahte', the past tense of 'agan' meaning 'to own' or 'to owe'; an obligation began as something you literally owed, and 'ought' and 'owe' are the same word split in two.
Remember it
OUGHT rhymes with 'bought' and 'thought' - and you ought to do what duty has bought you.
A little poem
Between the thing that is and ought to be
there hangs a bridge that no one builds for free.
couplet
What it teaches
What you ought to do rarely announces itself; it waits to be chosen, not discovered.
Quick facts
What does OUGHT mean?
Used to express duty, advisability, or strong probability.
Is OUGHT a valid word?
Yes — OUGHT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is OUGHT?
OUGHT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does OUGHT come from?
From Old English 'ahte', the past tense of 'agan' meaning 'to own' or 'to owe'; an obligation began as something you literally owed, and 'ought' and 'owe' are the same word split in two.
What can OUGHT teach us?
What you ought to do rarely announces itself; it waits to be chosen, not discovered.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.