Penultimate
From Textus Receptus
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Etymology
From Latin paenultimus, from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”).
/pɪˈnʌltɪmət/ Adjective penultimate (not comparable)
(UK, in US usage usually formal, literary or scholarly) Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc. (linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult. (mathematics, rare) Relating to or denoting an element of a related collection of curves that is arbitrarily close to a degenerate form. Usage notes[edit]
Synonyms
(immediately preceding the end of a list, sequence, etc.): next to last, next-to-last, second to last, second-to-last, second from last, second-from-last, second last, second-last, (now chiefly UK) last but one, last ~ but one
Coordinate terms
(adjectives denoting syllables): ultimate (last), antepenultimate (last but two), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)
Derived terms
- antepenultimate
- penultimately
- preantepenultimate
- propenultimate
- propreantepenultimate
Related terms
- penult
- ultimate
Translations
- next-to-last in a sequence
Noun
- penultimate (plural penultimates)
Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "penultimate, n. & adj." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2005.
