Definition

1. Noun:
   • Complete failure or lack of success: "Naught" refers to a situation where all efforts or actions result in no achievement or value.
   • Nothing, zero, a quantity of no importance: "Naught" signifies the number zero or an absolute absence of anything; something of no consequence or worth.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • All my efforts led to naught. (My hard work resulted in complete failure.)
  • It was all for naught. (Everything done was for nothing; it was entirely pointless.)
  • The project came to naught due to lack of funding. (The project failed completely because there was no money.)

Advanced Usage

• "To set at naught": To treat as unimportant, to disregard or scorn something completely.
  • He set all their warnings at naught and proceeded with his risky plan. (He completely ignored their warnings and continued with his dangerous plan.)
• "To bring to naught": To cause to fail or to ruin completely.
  • The sudden storm brought our carefully laid plans to naught. (The unexpected storm completely ruined our carefully made plans.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nought (noun): A chiefly British spelling variant meaning "zero" or "nothing."
  • The final score was three nought. (The final score was three to zero.)
• Naughty (adjective): Mischievous or disobedient. (Note: This is a distinct word with a different meaning, derived from the same root meaning "having nothing" or "poor," but it is not a variant of "naught" in modern usage.)

Synonyms

• Nothing: The complete absence of anything.
• Zero: The numerical symbol 0; nothing.
• Nil: Nothing, especially as a score in games.
• Zilch: Informal term for nothing at all.

Related Idioms

• "All for naught": Done or suffered for no purpose or result; entirely in vain.
  • Years of research were all for naught when the theory was disproven. (Years of research were completely wasted when the theory was proven wrong.)
• "Come to naught": To end in failure; to amount to nothing.
  • His ambitious schemes always seemed to come to naught. (His big plans always seemed to end in failure.)

Noun

1. complete failure
   • all my efforts led to naught
2. a quantity of no importance
   • it looked like nothing I had ever seen before
   • reduced to nil all the work we had done
   • we racked up a pathetic goose egg
   • it was all for naught
   • I didn't hear zilch about it