ultimate

English Online Dictionary. What means ultimate‎? What does ultimate mean?

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin ultimatus (“furthest, last”), past participle of Latin ultimare (“to come to an end”), from ultimus (“last, final”). See ultra-.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʌltɪmɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʌltəmɪt/

Adjective

ultimate (not comparable)

1. Final; last in a series.
2. (of a syllable) Last in a word or other utterance.
3. Being the greatest possible; maximum; most extreme.

   the ultimate pleasure

   the ultimate disappointment

   • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page vii

     Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

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.
   • Coleridge

     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

Synonyms

• (final): See Thesaurus:final
• (most extreme): utmost, uttermost

Antonyms

• (w.r.t. causes): proximate

Coordinate terms

• (adjectives denoting syllables): penultimate (last but one), antepenultimate (last but two), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)

Derived terms

• antepenultimate
• penultimate
• ultimateness

Related terms

• ulterior
• ultimatum
• ultra
• ultra-

Translations

Noun

ultimate (plural ultimates)

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. (uncountable) A non-contact competitive team sport played with a 175 gram flying disc, the object of which is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone.

   Ultimate (sport) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Translations

Verb

ultimate (third-person singular simple present ultimates, present participle ultimating, simple past and past participle ultimated)

1. (transitive, archaic) To finish; to complete.
   • 1869, The New-Jerusalem Magazine (volume 41, page 36)

     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.

Further reading

• ultimate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ultimate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• mutilate

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Finnish

Etymology

From English ultimate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈultimɑte/, [ˈult̪imɑt̪e̞]
• Hyphenation: ul‧ti‧ma‧te

Noun

ultimate

1. ultimate frisbee (game)

Declension

Anagrams

• amuletit, amuletti, laitumet, leimattu

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Italian

Verb

ultimate

1. second-person plural present indicative of ultimare
2. second-person plural imperative of ultimare
3. feminine plural of ultimato

Anagrams

• multiate, mutilate

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Latin

Verb

ultimāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ultimō