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Ought vs Want - What's the difference?

ought | want |

As verbs the difference between ought and want

is that ought is simple past of owe while want is to wish for or to desire (something).

As nouns the difference between ought and want

is that ought is a statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case while want is a desire, wish, longing.

As a pronoun ought

is an alternative spelling of lang=en anything.

As an adverb ought

is an alternative spelling of lang=en at all, to any degree.

As a proper noun Want is

a personification of want.

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

    *

    want

    English

    Alternative forms

    * waunt (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wish for or to desire (something).
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
  • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
  • * Dryden
  • The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting' or imperfect, so much ' wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.
  • To lack, not to have (something).
  • *, II.3.7:
  • he that hath skill to be a pilot wants' a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth' wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.
  • * James Merrick
  • Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!
  • * Addison
  • I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
  • (colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
  • The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.
  • (dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .
  • * Alexander Pope
  • For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb. See

    Synonyms

    * (desire) set one's heart on, wish for, would like * (lack) be without * (require) need, be in need of

    Derived terms

    * I want to know * want-away * wanted * want for * wanting *

    Noun

    (poverty)
  • (countable) A desire, wish, longing.
  • (countable, often, followed by of) Lack, absence.
  • * , King Henry VI Part 2 , act 4, sc. 8:
  • [H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels.
  • * :
  • For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
    For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
    For want of a horse the rider was lost.
    For want of a rider the battle was lost.
    For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
    And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
  • (uncountable) Poverty.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want .
  • Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
  • * Paley
  • Habitual superfluities become actual wants .
  • (UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
  • Derived terms

    * want ad

    References

    Statistics

    *