You searched for: “naughty”
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)
knotty, naughty
knotty (NAHT ee) (adjective)
1. Complicated, possibly without solution: The two scientists pondered the knotty problem for days before deciding there was nothing that could be done to fix it.
2. Referring to a solid mass in a tree which is the result of the growth of a branch, creating a circular grain in the wood, as opposed to a straight grain when cut: The office was decorated with a panel of knotty pine wood.
naughty (NAW tee) (adjective)
Characterized by disobedience or misbehavior: The teacher had no choice but to make the two naughty children stay after school.

A supervisor's secretary told her fellow worker, "Mr. Smith doesn't want to be disturbed. He says he's working on a naughty problem."

Her colleague replied with, "Hmmm, that sounds just like Mr. Smith."

Overhearing the conversation, the supervisor opened his door and responded with: "I said I was working on a knotty problem, not a naughty problem!"

The principal was faced with a knotty problem; that is, what to do about the two naughty youths who used spray paint on the knotty pine-board partition.

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