"aughts" meaning in English

See aughts in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /oːts/ [General-Australian, New-Zealand, UK], /ɒts/ [Canada, New-England], /ɔts/ [US], /ɑts/ [cot-caught-merger] Forms: oughts [alternative]
Rhymes: -ɒːts, -ɔːts, -ɑːts Etymology: From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero. Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} aughts (not comparable)
  1. From or evoking the first decade of a century (chiefly the 2000s). Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-aughts-en-adj-5DkJudea Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Decades Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 65 35 Disambiguation of English pluralia tantum: 64 36 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 88 12 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 81 19 Disambiguation of Decades: 64 36

Noun

IPA: /oːts/ [General-Australian, New-Zealand, UK], /ɒts/ [Canada, New-England], /ɔts/ [US], /ɑts/ [cot-caught-merger] Forms: the aughts [canonical, plural], oughts [alternative]
Rhymes: -ɒːts, -ɔːts, -ɑːts Etymology: From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero. Head templates: {{en-noun|p|def=1}} the aughts pl (plural only)
  1. The first decade of a century, such as 1900 to 1909 or 2000 to 2009, whose digit in the tens place is zero; the noughties. Tags: plural, plural-only Derived forms: mid-aughts, late-aughts
    Sense id: en-aughts-en-noun-tAKqc3Mh Related terms: 1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s, 1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s, 1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s, 2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s, 2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s, 2200s · 2210s · 2220s · 2230s · 2240s · 2250s · 2260s · 2270s · 2280s · 2290s, 00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s, '00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s, 00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's, zeros, zeroes, aughts, noughties, oughts · oneties, tens, teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties, Hungry Forties · Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the aughts",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "oughts",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "the aughts pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "mid-aughts"
        },
        {
          "word": "late-aughts"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              19,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Michael G. Cunningham, “The 20th Century’s Aughts and Teens: OPERETTA”, in Gilded Songs (Berlin to Bacharach): The Gig Instrumentalist’s Guide to the Golden Era of American Popular Song (1920 to 1979):",
          "text": "The 20th Century’s Aughts and Teens: OPERETTA [chapter title]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              323,
              329
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020:",
          "text": "When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              131,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 July 1, Elizabeth Logan, “Aly & AJ in the New Limited Too Collection Has Me Checking What Year It Is”, in Glamour:",
          "text": "Holy nostalgic flashback, Batman! Aly and AJ Michalka, the actor-musician sister duo known for dominating Radio Disney in the late aughts (they’ve also released some very good music since then), just sent us straight back to our tweens by wearing none other than iconic mall brand Limited Too.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              28,
              34
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 November 21, Kate Price, “‘Jeffrey Epstein is not unique’: What his case reveals about the realities of child sex trafficking”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "In the late 1990s and early aughts, at the beginning of the anti-human trafficking movement, people did use the term child prostitution.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The first decade of a century, such as 1900 to 1909 or 2000 to 2009, whose digit in the tens place is zero; the noughties."
      ],
      "id": "en-aughts-en-noun-tAKqc3Mh",
      "links": [
        [
          "first",
          "first"
        ],
        [
          "decade",
          "decade"
        ],
        [
          "century",
          "century"
        ],
        [
          "digit",
          "digit"
        ],
        [
          "ten",
          "ten"
        ],
        [
          "place",
          "place#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "zero",
          "zero"
        ],
        [
          "noughties",
          "noughties"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s"
        },
        {
          "word": "1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s"
        },
        {
          "word": "1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s"
        },
        {
          "word": "2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s"
        },
        {
          "word": "2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s"
        },
        {
          "word": "2200s · 2210s · 2220s · 2230s · 2240s · 2250s · 2260s · 2270s · 2280s · 2290s"
        },
        {
          "word": "00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s"
        },
        {
          "word": "'00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s"
        },
        {
          "word": "00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's"
        },
        {
          "word": "zeros"
        },
        {
          "word": "zeroes"
        },
        {
          "word": "aughts"
        },
        {
          "word": "noughties"
        },
        {
          "word": "oughts · oneties"
        },
        {
          "word": "tens"
        },
        {
          "word": "teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties"
        },
        {
          "word": "Hungry Forties · Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/oːts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒts/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "New-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔts/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑts/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɔːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːts"
    }
  ],
  "word": "aughts"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "oughts",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "aughts (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "65 35",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "64 36",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "64 36",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Decades",
          "orig": "en:Decades",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              28
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Dialup internet is so aughts.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              62
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 March 22, Tanya Basu, “Scientists figured out a big mystery about smell”, in Inverse, retrieved 14 Jun 2021:",
          "text": "Meyer and his team collected the participants in a very aughts way — through Craigslist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              121,
              127
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 October 19, Steff Yotka, “Dion Lee: Spring 2021 Ready-to-Wear”, in Vogue, retrieved 14 Jun 2021:",
          "text": "He's testing out new experiments with knotting and macramé too, tying up dresses and trousers for a look that feels very aughts—and very now.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "From or evoking the first decade of a century (chiefly the 2000s)."
      ],
      "id": "en-aughts-en-adj-5DkJudea",
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/oːts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒts/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "New-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔts/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑts/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɔːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːts"
    }
  ],
  "word": "aughts"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English pluralia tantum",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑːts/1 syllable",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒːts/1 syllable",
    "Rhymes:English/ɔːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɔːts/1 syllable",
    "en:Decades"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "mid-aughts"
    },
    {
      "word": "late-aughts"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the aughts",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "oughts",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "the aughts pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s"
    },
    {
      "word": "1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s"
    },
    {
      "word": "1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s"
    },
    {
      "word": "2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s"
    },
    {
      "word": "2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s"
    },
    {
      "word": "2200s · 2210s · 2220s · 2230s · 2240s · 2250s · 2260s · 2270s · 2280s · 2290s"
    },
    {
      "word": "00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s"
    },
    {
      "word": "'00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s"
    },
    {
      "word": "00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's"
    },
    {
      "word": "zeros"
    },
    {
      "word": "zeroes"
    },
    {
      "word": "aughts"
    },
    {
      "word": "noughties"
    },
    {
      "word": "oughts · oneties"
    },
    {
      "word": "tens"
    },
    {
      "word": "teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties"
    },
    {
      "word": "Hungry Forties · Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              19,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Michael G. Cunningham, “The 20th Century’s Aughts and Teens: OPERETTA”, in Gilded Songs (Berlin to Bacharach): The Gig Instrumentalist’s Guide to the Golden Era of American Popular Song (1920 to 1979):",
          "text": "The 20th Century’s Aughts and Teens: OPERETTA [chapter title]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              323,
              329
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020:",
          "text": "When the staccato, Neptunes-ian single “Boyfriend” was released in March, musical prognosticators were quick to peg the album it portended, Believe, as Justin Bieber’s Justified, a grown-and-sexy, R&B-centric departure that evolved millennial teenybopper Justin Timberlake into one of the unifying pop-music figures of the aughts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              131,
              137
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 July 1, Elizabeth Logan, “Aly & AJ in the New Limited Too Collection Has Me Checking What Year It Is”, in Glamour:",
          "text": "Holy nostalgic flashback, Batman! Aly and AJ Michalka, the actor-musician sister duo known for dominating Radio Disney in the late aughts (they’ve also released some very good music since then), just sent us straight back to our tweens by wearing none other than iconic mall brand Limited Too.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              28,
              34
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 November 21, Kate Price, “‘Jeffrey Epstein is not unique’: What his case reveals about the realities of child sex trafficking”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "In the late 1990s and early aughts, at the beginning of the anti-human trafficking movement, people did use the term child prostitution.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The first decade of a century, such as 1900 to 1909 or 2000 to 2009, whose digit in the tens place is zero; the noughties."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "first",
          "first"
        ],
        [
          "decade",
          "decade"
        ],
        [
          "century",
          "century"
        ],
        [
          "digit",
          "digit"
        ],
        [
          "ten",
          "ten"
        ],
        [
          "place",
          "place#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "zero",
          "zero"
        ],
        [
          "noughties",
          "noughties"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/oːts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒts/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "New-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔts/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑts/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɔːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːts"
    }
  ],
  "word": "aughts"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English pluralia tantum",
    "English uncomparable adjectives",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑːts/1 syllable",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɒːts/1 syllable",
    "Rhymes:English/ɔːts",
    "Rhymes:English/ɔːts/1 syllable",
    "en:Decades"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "oughts",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "aughts (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              28
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Dialup internet is so aughts.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              62
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 March 22, Tanya Basu, “Scientists figured out a big mystery about smell”, in Inverse, retrieved 14 Jun 2021:",
          "text": "Meyer and his team collected the participants in a very aughts way — through Craigslist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              121,
              127
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 October 19, Steff Yotka, “Dion Lee: Spring 2021 Ready-to-Wear”, in Vogue, retrieved 14 Jun 2021:",
          "text": "He's testing out new experiments with knotting and macramé too, tying up dresses and trousers for a look that feels very aughts—and very now.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "From or evoking the first decade of a century (chiefly the 2000s)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/oːts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand",
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɒts/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "New-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɔts/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ɑts/",
      "tags": [
        "cot-caught-merger"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɒːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɔːts"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑːts"
    }
  ],
  "word": "aughts"
}

Download raw JSONL data for aughts meaning in English (6.4kB)

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  "path": [
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "aughts",
  "trace": ""
}

{
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}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-11 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.