ought

Other spellings

• (informal) oughta

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /ɔːt/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /ɔt/

• Audio (US)

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Verb

Present ought

Past none

Negative oughtn't

1. (modal) If you ought to do something, doing it is better than not doing it.
   • Synonyms: should, must and had better

   I think perhaps we ought to help her.

   It's dangerous and there ought not to be any children close by.

   We really ought to go a bit early because of the snow.

   What time ought the school to open?

   I suppose I ought to write her an e-mail.

2. (modal) If something ought to be true, you have reason to believe it, but you don't know, or it is not true.
   • Synonym: should

   Oughtn't he to be here by now.

   You ought to be able to finish that in an hour.

Usage

Ought is different from other modal verbs (e.g., may, will, could) in that it takes to + infinitive instead of a bare infinitive. For example:

I will go.

I ought to go.

There is, however, a trend to use ought with a bare infinitive in negatives and certain questions. For example:

You oughtn't (to) worry about it.

Ought we (to) ask her about it?