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Definition of naught in English:

naught

Pronunciation /nôt/ /nɔt/

See synonyms for naught

Translate naught into Spanish

pronoun

archaic

  • Nothing.

    ‘he's naught but a worthless fool’
    • ‘First, think of a person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.’
    • ‘When naught remained of the wound but the scar, the flow of light to the wound stopped, flowing about her hands, then vanished.’
    • ‘With naught but a tent for shelter, the traveler is in constant danger - both from bandits and the elements.’
    • ‘He's sailing as we speak, he just left the harbor naught but an hour ago.’
    • ‘As Lucretius has stated, naught from naught can be created.’
    • ‘There's naught to get my teeth into, naught to be telling me what they mean.’
    • ‘And Unless we keep this planet healthy, everything else is for naught.’
    • ‘I think of political prisoners on hunger strikes around the world; my suffering is naught compared to theirs.’
    • ‘Sounds like you're really working it - make sure you get adequate rest, or all that work could be for naught.’
    • ‘I found that my benevolent intentions, not to mention my philanthropic soul were all for naught.’
    • ‘‘I seek naught but to rule alongside my mother over this land,’ Rene said simply.’
    • ‘‘He is my little brother, he is naught but seven years old,’ Katrina spoke up as she rose from her chair.’
    • ‘But these were naught but the idle dreams of a fanciful girl.’
    • ‘But suddenly, your preparation seems like it was all for naught.’
    • ‘He has it by my leave, so there's naught to worry about.’
    • ‘Yet, tragically, the effort seems to have been for naught.’
    • ‘Chris' expression betrayed naught but the purest innocence.’
    • ‘Against our resolve, their millions shall count for naught.’
    • ‘So be sure that naught but truth lies upon these pages.’
    nothing, nothing at all, nought, nil, zero
    View synonyms

noun

North American

  • The digit 0; zero.

    ‘It is a series of numbers, hyphens, naughts, strokes, and zeds.’
    • ‘Ryan was just hysterically laughing, asking how it was a twenty-one year old could lose to a five year old child in naughts and crosses.’
    • ‘Those naughts and ones are then what we call modulated, or carried if you like, as a passenger on a radio frequency signal.’
    • ‘In reciprocation, however, he got a big naught.’
    • ‘Or maybe they forgot to put a extra naught on the end of the figure they offered.’
    • ‘From zero to naught, I cannot be free of this thought, inside my head,’

Phrases

    bring to naught
    archaic

    • Ruin or foil.

      ‘All of the divisions of Us, predicated upon the beast within, are brought to naught.’
      • ‘In 1989, courageous people brought to naught the Berlin Wall.’
      • ‘Such recommendations will only bring to naught efforts to increase cooperation and decrease politicization among States.’
    set at naught
    archaic

    • Disregard or despise.

      ‘your efforts are set at naught by those beneath you’
      • ‘It only helps to be able to lock people up without trial if you know who they are - if you don't, your strategy is set at naught.’
      • ‘In the other case the Court will not allow its process to be set at naught and treated with contempt.’
      • ‘In this way a party who is in breach of the contract will be able to set at naught an exclusive jurisdiction agreement which is the product of the free will of the parties.’
      • ‘The fact of the matter is that rising inflation is setting at naught the modest gains in take-home pay granted through tax reform and income rises.’
      • ‘It is not easy to trace the motives of the reformers or their inheritors as they gradually set at naught large elements of symbol in worship.’
    come to naught
    archaic

    • Be ruined or foiled.

      ‘his hopes of becoming commissioner have come to naught’
      • ‘Everything he tries with the boy comes to naught!’
      • ‘He said unless the boxers worked on their fighting skills, the quest for effective competition and excellence on the international scene would come to naught.’
      • ‘All the extravagant statements come to naught.’
      • ‘Hopes were then pinned on the disciplinary investigation of 20 senior officials - which has come to naught.’
      • ‘Now it seems all their efforts have come to naught.’
      • ‘Yet all will come to naught without international political, administrative and financial support on an unprecedented scale.’
      • ‘Attempts so far to forge a compromise have come to naught, leaving the upcoming session disturbingly unsettled.’
      • ‘I believe all this arguing and toing and froing will come to naught in the end.’
      • ‘Many years of work and negotiations came to naught.’
      • ‘My attempts to raise money in France and Germany have come to naught.’

Origin

Old English nāwiht, -wuht, from nā ‘no’ + wiht ‘thing’ (see wight).