Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "naught" []

  • Nonexistence; nothingness. (noun)
  • The figure 0; a cipher; a zero. (noun)
  • Nothing: All their work was for naught. (pronoun)
  • Nonexistent. (adjective)
  • Insignificant. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "naught" in a sentence
  • "It was the mysterious, evil forest, a charnel house of silence, wherein naught moved save strange tiny birds -- the strangeness of them making the mystery more profound, for they flitted on noiseless wings, emitting neither song nor chirp, and they were mottled with morbid colours, having all the seeming of orchids, flying blossoms of sickness and decay."
  • "When this was ended and done, for naught is durable save the Living, the Eternal,"
  • "Then he opened the door of his treasure closet, but found therein naught of his money nor his hoards; whereupon he recovered from the intoxication of fancy and shook off his infatuation and knew that it was his wife herself who had turned the tables upon him and outwitted him with her wiles."