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"If you know aught which does behove my knowledge / Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not / In ignorant concealment," Polixenes begs Camillo in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, employing the "anything" sense of aught. Shakespeare didn't coin the pronoun aught, which has been a part of the English language since before the 12th century, but he did put it to frequent use. Writers today may be less likely to use aught than were their literary predecessors, but the pronoun does continue to turn up occasionally. Aught can also be a noun meaning "zero," and "the aughts" is heard occasionally for the decade at the beginning of a century (say, 1900-1909 or 2000-2009) in which the penultimate digit is a zero.
Synonyms of aught
Examples of aught in a Sentence
Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 19 May 2026
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox Amanda Knox, the media fixture who was accused, falsely convicted and later exonerated of murdering her roommate, captivated the public on two continents in the early aughts.
—Karen Idelson, Variety, 18 May 2026
While fans of the early aughts game show will remember host Anne Robinson's unflinching presence, the show had almost gone with another host.
—Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 18 May 2026
After four seasons, Lawrence left Spin City when Fox did and went on to create Scrubs at NBC, a series that often gets lost in discussions of how TV comedy evolved in the aughts.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 16 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for aught
Cite this Entry
“Aught.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aught. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
aught
1 of 2 pronoun
aught
2 of 2 nounPronoun
Old English āwiht "anything," from ā "ever, always" and wiht "creature, thing"
Noun
from naught "zero," from mistaking a naught for an aught
