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Ought vs Suppose - What's the difference?

ought | suppose |

As verbs the difference between ought and suppose

is that ought is (obsolete) (owe) or ought can be (auxiliary) indicating duty or obligation while suppose is .

As a pronoun ought

is anything .

As an adverb ought

is at all, to any degree.

As a noun ought

is a statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case or ought can be cipher, zero, nought.

ought

English

Etymology 1

(etyl)

Verb

(head)
  • (obsolete) (owe)
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Luke VII:
    • There was a certayne lender, which had two detters, the one ought five hondred pence, and the other fifty.
  • *, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.182:
    • witnesse Aristippus , who being urged with the affection he ought his children, as proceeding from his loynes, began to spit.

    Verb

    (head)
  • (auxiliary) Indicating duty or obligation.
  • (auxiliary) Indicating advisability or prudence.
  • (auxiliary) Indicating desirability.
  • (auxiliary) Indicating likelihood or probability.
  • * , chapter=3
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}
    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)
    Synonyms
    * should (In all senses)
    See also
    * ought to *

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • anything
  • * Bishop Joseph Hall
    • Is it a small benefit, that I am placed there where I see no drunken comessations, no rebellious routs, no violent oppressions, no obscene rejoicings, nor ought else that might either vex or affright my soul?

    Adverb

    (-)
  • at all, to any degree.

    • See also

    * aught * naught * nought

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1996, title=The Time of Our Lives: The Ethics of Common Sense, author=Mortimer Jerome Adler
    • , passage=There are value judgments that are not reducible to observable matters of fact, and there are oughts that cannot be construed as hypothetical and, therefore, cannot be converted into statements of fact. citation
  • * {{quote-book, year=2004, title=Truth Matters: Essays in Honor of Jacques Maritain, author=Jacques Maritain, John G. Trapani
    • , passage=Is there a fallacy involved in deriving an ought from a set of exclusively factual or descriptive premises? citation

    References

    * *

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • cipher, zero, nought.

    • Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English auxiliary verbs English defective verbs English modal verbs

    suppose

    English

    Verb

    (suppos)
  • To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=15 citation , passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • To theorize or hypothesize.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-06, author= David Cox
    • , volume=189, issue=13, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Celebrity rules even Hawking's universe , passage=Just what is supposed to be wrong with the pursuit of fame is not always made clear. Plato disapproved of competition for praise on the grounds that it would tempt the great to bend to the will of the crowd. It is hard to argue with that, and social degradation remains a fear.}}
  • To imagine; to believe; to receive as true.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
    • How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
  • * (Bible), 2 (w) xiii. 32
    • Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead.
  • *
    • As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • To require to exist or to be true; to imply by the laws of thought or of nature.
    • Purpose supposes foresight.
  • * 1752 , (Charlotte Lennox), (The Female Quixote)
    • One falsehood always supposes another, and renders all you can say suspected.
  • To put by fraud in the place of another.

    • Synonyms

    * assume (1,2) * See also

    Derived terms

    * supposable * supposed to (idiom) * supposedly

    Statistics

    * English reporting verbs ----