ought
Pronunciation: (UK) IPA: /ɔːt/, (US) IPA: /ɔt/, (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ɑt/
Verb: - (third-person singular simple present ought, present participle -, simple past -, past participle ought)
1. (auxiliary) Indicating duty or obligation.
¶ I ought to vote in the coming election.
2. (auxiliary) Indicating advisability or prudence.
¶ You ought to stand back from the edge of the platform.
3. (auxiliary) Indicating desirability.
¶ He ought to have read the book; it was very good.
4. (auxiliary) Indicating likelihood or probability.
¶ We ought to arrive by noon if we take the motorway.
Usage notes
Ought is an auxiliary verb; it takes a following verb as its complement. This verb may appear either as a full infinitive (such as "to go") or a bare infinitive (such as simple "go"), depending on region and speaker; the same range of meanings is possible in either case. Additionally, it's possible for ought not to take any complement, in which case a verb complement is implied, as in, "You really ought to [do so]."
The negative of ought is either ought not (to) or oughtn't (to)
Ought has become dated and fairly rare in North America, where should prevails.
Synonyms
should (In all senses)
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