aughts

aughts

English

Alternative forms

• oughts

Etymology

From the sense of aught to refer to the number zero.

Pronunciation

• (Canada, New England), IPA^(key): /ɒːts/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːts/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɑːts/
• Rhymes: -ɒːts, -ɔːts, -ɑːts

Noun

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.
   • 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):

     The 20th Century’s Aughts and Teens: OPERETTA [chapter title]

   • 2012 June 26, Genevieve Koski, “Music: Reviews: Justin Bieber: Believe”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 6 August 2020:

     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.

Derived terms

• mid-aughts
• late-aughts

See also

decades in English (edit)

22nd century	2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s
21st century	2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s
20th century	1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s
19th century	1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s
18th century	1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s
14th century	1300s · 1310s · 1320s · 1330s · 1340s · 1350s · 1360s · 1370s · 1380s · 1390s
Decade only	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 or aughts/noughties/oughts · oneties/tens/teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties
Nicknames	Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties

Adjective

aughts (not comparable)

1. From or evoking the first through tenth years of a century (chiefly the 2000s).

   Dialup internet is so aughts.

   • 2017 March 22, Tanya Basu, “Scientists figured out a big mystery about smell”, in Inverse‎, retrieved June 14, 2021:

     Meyer and his team collected the participants in a very aughts way — through Craigslist.

   • 2020 October 19, Steff Yotka, “Dion Lee: Spring 2021 Ready-to-Wear”, in Vogue‎, retrieved June 14, 2021:

     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.

Anagrams

• ghauts, saught