2 PHRASE You use ought to when saying that you think it is a good idea and important for you or someone else to do a particular thing, especially when giving or asking for advice or opinions. □ You don't have to be alone with him and I don't think you ought to be. □ You ought to ask a lawyer's advice. □ We ought not to be quarrelling now.
3 PHRASE You use ought to to indicate that you expect something to be true or to happen. You use ought to have to indicate that you expect something to have happened already. □ 'This ought to be fun,' he told Alex, eyes gleaming.
4 PHRASE You use ought to to indicate that you think that something should be the case, but might not be. □ By rights the Social Democrats ought to be the favourites in the election. But nothing looks less certain. □ Though this gives them a nice feeling, it really ought to worry them.
5 PHRASE You use ought to to indicate that you think that something has happened because of what you know about the situation, but you are not certain. [VAGUENESS ] □ He ought to have reached the house some time ago.
6 PHRASE You use ought to have with a past participle to indicate that something was expected to happen or be the case, but it did not happen or was not the case. □ Basically the system ought to have worked. □ The money to build the power station ought to have been sufficient.
7 PHRASE You use ought to have with a past participle to indicate that although it was best or correct for someone to do something in the past, they did not actually do it. □ I realize I ought to have told you about it. □ Perhaps we ought to have trusted people more. □ I ought not to have asked you a thing like that. I'm sorry. □ I'm beginning to feel now we oughtn't to have let her go away like that.
8 PHRASE You use ought to when politely telling someone that you must do something, for example that you must leave. [POLITENESS ] □ I really ought to be getting back now. □ I think I ought to go.
oughtn't /ɔː t ə nt/ Oughtn't is a spoken form of 'ought not'.
oui|ja board /wiː dʒə bɔː r d/ (ouija boards ) N‑COUNT A ouija board is a board with the letters of the alphabet written on it. It is used to ask questions which are thought to be answered by the spirits of dead people.
ounce /aʊ ns/ (ounces )
1 N‑COUNT [num N ] An ounce is a unit of weight used in Britain and the USA. There are sixteen ounces in a pound and one ounce is equal to 28.35 grams. □ [+ of ] …four ounces of sugar.
2 N‑SING You can refer to a very small amount of something, such as a quality or characteristic, as an ounce . □ [+ of ] If only my father had possessed an ounce of business sense. □ [+ of ] I spent every ounce of energy trying to hide.
3 → see also fluid ounce
our ◆◆◆ /aʊə r / Our is the first person plural possessive determiner. 1 DET You use our to indicate that something belongs or relates both to yourself and to one or more other people. □ We're expecting our first baby. □ I locked myself out of our apartment and had to break in.
2 DET A speaker or writer sometimes uses our to indicate that something belongs or relates to people in general. □ We are all entirely responsible for our actions, and for our reactions.
O u r La dy N‑PROPER Some Christians, especially Catholics, refer to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as Our Lady . □ Will you pray to Our Lady for me?
O u r Lo rd N‑PROPER Christians refer to Jesus Christ as Our Lord . □ Let us remember the words of Our Lord from the gospel of Mark.
ours /aʊə r z/ Ours is the first person plural possessive pronoun. PRON You use ours to refer to something that belongs or relates both to yourself and to one or more other people. □ There are few strangers in a town like ours. □ Half the houses had been fitted with alarms and ours hadn't.
our|self /aʊə r se lf/ PRON Ourself is sometimes used instead of 'ourselves' when it clearly refers to a singular subject. Some people consider this use to be incorrect. □ …the way we think of ourself and others.
our|selves ◆◇◇ /aʊə r se lvz/ Ourselves is the first person plural reflexive pronoun. 1 PRON You use ourselves to refer to yourself and one or more other people as a group. □ We sat round the fire to keep ourselves warm. □ It was the first time we admitted to ourselves that we were tired.
2 PRON A speaker or writer sometimes uses ourselves to refer to people in general. Ourselves is used as the object of a verb or preposition when the subject refers to the same people. □ We all know that when we exert ourselves our heart rate increases.
3 PRON You use ourselves to emphasize a first person plural subject. In more formal English, ourselves is sometimes used instead of 'us' as the object of a verb or preposition, for emphasis. [EMPHASIS ] □ Others are feeling just the way we ourselves would feel in the same situation. □ The people who will suffer won't be people like ourselves.
4 PRON If you say something such as 'We did it ourselves ', you are indicating that something was done by you and a particular group of other people, rather than anyone else. □ We villagers built that ourselves, we had no help from anyone.
SUFFIX -ous
forms adjectives that indicate that someone or something has a particular quality. For example, a person who is humorous often uses humour.
oust /aʊ st/ (ousts , ousting , ousted ) VERB If someone is ousted from a position of power, job, or place, they are forced to leave it. [JOURNALISM ] □ [be V -ed] The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists. □ [V n] Last week they tried to oust him in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. □ [V -ed] …the ousted government. ● oust|ing N‑UNCOUNT □ …an accounting scandal that led to the ousting of its chief executive.