Oughtness

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    In ethics, the quality which makes an action dutiful or morally obligatory. countable, uncountable

    "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."

  2. 2
    The state or characteristic of something's being as it ought to be; rightness. countable, rare, uncountable
  3. 3
    The obligatoriness of future actions or future states of affairs which are morally worthy of being produced through human effort. countable, rare, uncountable

    "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."

Example

More examples

"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."

Etymology

From ought + -ness.

Related phrases

state of affairs

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.