Nothing uses present tense (4)

I believe the answer is:

nowt

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'nothing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'present tense' is the wordplay.
'present' becomes 'now' (now is a kind of present**).
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'now'+'t'='NOWT'

'uses' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

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(Other definitions for nowt that I've seen before include "Nothing (northern English)" , "Nothing (in the North)" , "Northern 15 [NIX]" , "Duck" , "FA" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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