oughtness
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy of being produced through human effort.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Every attempt to derive oughtness from rightness must, as we have shown, either end in an illogical system or destroy the possibility of a separate science of Ethics at all."
- "Oughtness, may I suggest, consists in the power which a greater good has over a lesser good in compelling our choices."
- "Combining the reality of politics with a sense of "oughtness" creates a sense of duty to the collective."
- "I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him."
Etymology
Etymology tree English ought Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English oughtness From ought + -ness.