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Ought vs Try - What's the difference?

ought | try |

As a verb ought

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

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.

As an initialism try is

.

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

    *

    try

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . Replaced native (etyl) (from (etyl) (m)).

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Magician’s brain , passage=[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.}}
  • (label) To divide; to separate.
  • # To separate (precious metal etc.) from the ore by melting; to purify, refine.
  • #* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:
  • euery feend his busie paines applide, / To melt the golden metall, ready to be tride .
  • # (label) To winnow; to sift; to pick out; frequently followed by out .
  • To test, to work out.
  • # To make an experiment. Usually followed by a present participle.
  • # To put to test.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • #* 1922 , , Miss Mapp , :
  • “So mousie shall only find tins on the floor now,” thought Miss Mapp. “Mousie shall try his teeth on tins.”
  • #* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • # To taste, sample, etc.
  • # To prove by experiment; to apply a test to, for the purpose of determining the quality; to examine; to prove; to test.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Let the end try the man.
  • # To put on trial.
  • #* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I
  • The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
  • To experiment, to strive.
  • # To have or gain knowledge of by experience.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Try the Libyan heat or Scythian cold.
  • (Milton)
  • # To work on something.
  • # (label) To do; to fare.
  • # To settle; to decide; to determine; specifically, to decide by an appeal to arms.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Left I the court, to see this quarrel tried .
  • (label) To lie to in heavy weather under just sufficient sail to head into the wind.
  • To strain; to subject to excessive tests.
  • Usage notes
    * (to attempt) This is a catenative verb that takes the to'' infinitive. In the future tense, it can take ''and'' instead of ''to . *: * (to make an experiment) This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . * See
    Synonyms
    * (to attempt) attempt, mint, take a run at, take a stab at * sample, taste
    Derived terms
    * try-hard * try-miter square * try-off * try on * try-on * try out * try-out * try-outs * try square/try-square * try your luck * trying * try one's hand

    Noun

    (tries)
  • An attempt.
  • I gave unicycling a try but I couldn’t do it .
  • An act of tasting or sampling.
  • I gave sushi a try but I didn’t like it .
  • (rugby) A score in rugby, analogous to a touchdown in American football.
  • Today I scored my first try .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=But two penalties and a drop-goal from Jonny Wilkinson, despite a host of other wayward attempts, plus a late try from Chris Ashton were enough to send a misfiring England through.}}
  • (UK, dialect, obsolete) A screen, or sieve, for grain.
  • (Holland)
  • (American football) a field goal or extra point
  • Synonyms
    * (an attempt) bash, go, stab, whirl * (an act of tasting or sampling) sampling, taste, tasting * (a score in rugby) touchdown (American football )
    Derived terms
    * give a try * old college try * penalty try * worth a try

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) Fine, excellent.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.2:
  • But he her suppliant hands, those hands of gold, / And eke her feete, those feete of silver trye , […] Chopt off […].

    Statistics

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