ultimate
adjectivenounverbcommon in dialogue
- United States//ˈʌltɪmət//
- United States//-ɪt//
Final; last in a series.
adjective
- 1
Final; last in a series.
[…] they [the sounds of an echo] next strike the ultimate secondary object, then the penultimate and antepenultimate; […]
- 2
Last in a word or other utterance.
- 3
Being the greatest possible; maximum; most extreme.
the ultimate pleasure
the ultimate disappointment
Not that we consider this as the most desirable channel in which these affections should be made to flow. The good that is done in this way, is by no means in proportion to the good that is intended. Injudicious charity has probably been productive of far more ultimate evil, than the coldest and most indiscriminating selfishness.
Dr. Bucknill declares that the growth and renovation of nerve-cells in the brain "are the most ultimate conditions of mind with which we are accquainted"; but instead of inferring from this that we know very little indeed about the mind, he concludes that thought, recollection, and reason are products of "the activity of the vesicular neurine of the brain."
- 4
Being the most distant or extreme; farthest.
- 5
That will happen at some time; eventual.
- 6
Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.
those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we cannot rationally contradict
- 7
Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental.
an ultimate constituent of matter
Etymology
* From Medieval Latin ultimātus (“furthest, last”), perfect passive participle of ultimō (“to come to an end”) (see -ate (1,2 and 3)), from ultimus (“last, final”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). See ultra-. * (ultimate frisbee): The sport was renamed to avoid the use of the Frisbee trademark.
noun
- 1
The most basic or fundamental of a set of things
- 2
The final or most distant point; the conclusion
- 3
The greatest extremity; the maximum
- 4
Variant of ultimate frisbee or ultimate discEllipsis of ultimate frisbee or ultimate disc.
verb
- 1
archaicTo finish; to complete.
These measures have been carried forward with a zeal and unanimity that warrant the hope we entertain, of ultimating the plans in respect to our Temple, before the next meeting of the Maryland Association.
Forms
- plural
- ultimates
- comparative
- more ultimate
- superlative
- most ultimate
- past tense
- ultimated
- past participle
- ultimated
- present participle
- ultimating
- third person singular
- ultimates