ultimate

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

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin ultimātus (“furthest, last”), past participle of Latin ultimō, ultimāre (“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.
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.
   • 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection

     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.

Synonyms

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

Antonyms

• (w.r.t. causes): initial, original
• (most extreme): original, derivative

Coordinate terms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

ultimate (countable and uncountable, 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, sports) Ellipsis of ultimate frisbee/ultimate disc

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, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• mutilate

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Finnish

Etymology

From English ultimate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈultimɑte/, [ˈult̪iˌmɑt̪e̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑte
• Syllabification: ul‧ti‧ma‧te

Noun

ultimate

1. ultimate frisbee (game)

Declension

Anagrams

• amuletit, amuletti, laitumet, leimattu, leimatut

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Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

ultimate

1. inflection of ultimare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

ultimate f pl

1. feminine plural of ultimato

Anagrams

• multiate, mutilate

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ul.tiˈmaː.te/, [ʊɫ̪t̪ɪˈmäːt̪ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ul.tiˈma.te/, [ul̪t̪iˈmäːt̪ɛ]

Verb

ultimāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of ultimō