You searched for: “naught”
aught, aught, naught, naughty, ought
aught (AWT) (pronoun)
Anything; any part or item; by any chance; in any respect (considered to be literary and old-fashioned): For aught I know, he could have left an hour ago.
aught (AWT) (noun)
The figure "0"; a cipher of zero: Manfred had aught, or zero, money available to pay for the bread.
naught (NAWT) (noun)
1. Nothing, nonexistent, insignificant; zero, a cipher; worthless, useless: All of the committee's work was for naught.
2. Zero (usually a naught): All of the experts efforts to complete the project on time was for naught.
"Naught: Something that is nothing."
—Evan Esar
naughty (NAW tee) (adjective)
1. Behaving disobediently or mischievously: His mother called him a naughty boy because he tracked mud into the house without even trying either to take his shoes off or at least trying to clean them before going in.
2. Used especially to describe a child who does not behave properly or does not obey a parent, teacher, etc.: The mother received a call from the principal of her daughter's school saying that the girl was naughty because she wouldn't quit talking while the teacher was trying to explain how to do arithmetic problems.
3. As a play on the word: a reference to anything with a zero, or zeros: Years that include zeros can be described as being naughty years; not because they behaved badly or were disobedient, but because they include "naughts or numbers with zeros".
ought (AWT) (verb)
1. Used to indicate what is expected: Tom mentioned, "They ought to be here by now and you ought to be able to read this book until they arrive."
2. Used to say or to suggest what should be done: Jane told her daughter, "You ought to get some rest now and then after that you ought to do your homework."

Someone has suggested that since zero means naught, then anyone who is born during a year that has zeros in it ought to be described as a naughty person (not with the meaning of "bad") because he/she was born in a year with a naught or naughts in its numerical composition; such as, 2001 or 2010; in other words, naughty years.

For aught I know, the more zeros in a year the naughtier the people are who were born in those years and the naughtiest, we must agree, ought to be those who came into existence in the year 2000 which has the most naughts.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. (page 9)
knot, knot; naught, nought; not
knot (NAHT) (noun)
1. A bond between individuals usually as part of a ceremony: Frank and Tamika tied the marriage knot during a beautiful ceremony on the beach.
2. An interwoven or interlaced knob created by a flexible cord or fabric: A sailor on the ship needed to know the right knot to use when rigging the sails.
3. The measurement of a ship’s speed: The captain of the ship calculated his vessel was moving at one knot per hour.
knot (NAHT) (verb)
To tie up or to secure by using a flexible cord: David is going to knot his shoelaces twice so they will not come undone.
naught, nought (NAHT) (noun)
1. Nonexistence; nothingness: All of Debora's efforts came to naught.
2. The figure "0"; a cipher; a zero: Helena is going to receive naught for all of the hours that she worked at the food pantry for homeless people.
not (NAHT) (adverb)
Used to indicate the negative of a verb or adjective describing a group of words or phrases: The cook announced there would not be bacon and eggs for breakfast after all.

Douglas and Kim decided not to tie the knot while they were on vacation because they had naught to spend on the ceremony.

Later, Douglas and Kim took the ferry which traveled across the lake at just one knot per hour and she asked the captain if he would tie the knot for them. He did, and he also gave them an ornamental knot of rope as a souvenir.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group K; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 1)