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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,442 words match “OUGHT”

IDEO-MOTOR a.
as, rather than the result of distinct volitional efforts, as the act of expressing the thoughts in speech, or in writing, while the mind is occupied in the composition of the sentence. Carpenter.
IDEOGRAM n.
an idea. Ideograms may be defined to be pictures intended to represent either things or thoughts. I. Taylor (The Alphabet). You might even have a history without language written or spoken, by means of ideograms and gesture. J. Peile.
IDLE a.
Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren. "Deserts idle." Shak. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matt. xii. 36. Down their idle weapons dropped. Milton. This idle story became important. Macaulay.
IDONEOUS a.
Appropriate; suitable; proper; fit; adequate. [R.] An ecclesiastical benefice . . . ought to be conferred on an idoneous person. Ayliffe.
IDYL n.
ustic life, of pastoral scenes, and the like. [Written also idyll.] Wordsworth's solemn-thoughted idyl. Mrs. Browning. His [Goldsmith's] lovely idyl of the Vicar's home. F. Harrison.
ILL-BRED a.
Badly educated or brought up; impolite; incivil; rude. See Note under Ill, adv.
IMMEASURABLENESS n.
The state or quality of being immeasurable. Eternity and immeasurableness belong to thought alone. F. W. Robertson.
IMMODEST a.
; as, immodest persons, behavior, words, pictures, etc. Immodest deeds you hinder to be wrought, But we proscribe the least immodest thought. Dryden.
IMPERFECT a.
Milton. Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. Pope. Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch. -- Imperfect cadence (Mus.), one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close. -- I…
IMPERIAL n.
A kind of fine cloth brought into England from Greece. or other Eastern countries, in the Middle Ages.
IMPERSEVERANT a.
Not persevering; fickle; thoughtless. [Obs.]
IMPLACABLE a.
or assuaged; inextinguishable. [R.] O! how I burn with implacable fire. Spenser. Which wrought them pain Implacable, and many a dolorous groan. Milton.
IMPLORE v.
n with urency; to entreat; to beg; -- followed directly by the word expressing the thing sought, or the person from whom it is sought. Imploring all the gods that reign above. Pope. I kneel, and then implore her blessing. Shak.
IMPORT n.
Merchandise imported, or brought into a country from without its boundaries; -- generally in the plural, opposed to exports. I take the imports from, and not the exports to, these conquests, as the measure of these advantages which we derived from them. Burke.
IMPOSSIBILITY n.
An impossible thing; that which can not be thought, done, or endured. Impossibilities! O, no, there's none. Cowley.
IMPRESS v.
To be impressed; to rest. [Obs.] Such fiendly thoughts in his heart impress. Chaucer.
IMPROBATION n.
The act by which falsehood and forgery are proved; an action brought for the purpose of having some instrument declared false or forged. Bell.
IMPROMPTU n.
A piece composed or played at first thought; a composition in the style of an extempore piece.
IMPROPER a.
not becoming; incongruous; inappropriate; indecent; as, an improper medicine; improper thought, behavior, language, dress. Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service, Improper for a slave. Shak. And to their proper operation still, Ascribe all Good; to their improper, Ill. Pope.
IMPROPRIETY n.
eties and absurdities. Johnson. Many gross improprieties, however authorized by practice, ought to be discarded. Swift.
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