sought
part of speech
verb, past tense and past participle of «seek» (seek, seeks, sought, seeking); adjective in «sought-after»
meaning for a pupil
1) Looked for or searched for. tree →
2) Tried to get or achieve something. tree →
3) Asked for, as in sought advice or sought help. tree →
4) «Sought-after» means wanted by many people, popular. tree →
sense in the lessons
It is a formal or story word; in everyday talk people usually say «looked for» or «tried». In stories and history it shows a quest: «the knights sought the treasure». In news and formal writing: «police sought witnesses». Phrases: «sought help», «sought advice», «sought refuge», «much sought-after».
examples
- The explorers sought a way across the mountains. tree →
- She sought help from her teacher when she was stuck. tree →
- They sought shelter from the rain under a tree. tree →
- The police sought anyone who had seen the accident. tree →
- These old cards are much sought-after by collectors. tree →
- He sought to make friends at his new school. tree →
- The villagers sought advice from the wise old woman. tree →
- The more he sought the less he found. tree →
note
«Seek» is irregular: seek → sought → sought (not «seeked»). «Sought» rhymes with «caught» and «thought». Do not confuse it with «sort» (a kind, or to put in order), which sounds the same in many British accents.
In the corpora
- The child's wishes and feelings will be sought.» He has no idea what it means.
- Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.
- But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines.
- And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
- And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath; and he sought no more again for him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sought» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.