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Penultimate

//pɪˈnʌltɪmət// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc. UK, literary, not-comparable

    "[…] they [the sounds of an echo] next strike the ultimate secondary object, then the penultimate and antepenultimate; […]"

  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to a penult. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Relating to or denoting an element of a related collection of curves that is arbitrarily close to a degenerate form. not-comparable, rare
  4. 4
    pre-eminent, ultimate, best; par excellence, top-quality not-comparable, proscribed

    "This Book is the Proud Purple Penultimate!!"

Adjective
  1. 1
    second last wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    A penult, a next to last, particularly uncommon

    "Our Lutheran concern for the ultimates (the Gospel) has allowed us to neglect some of the penultimates (bodily healing), failing to stress the total implications of that ultimate Gospel."

  2. 2
    the next to last syllable in a word wordnet
  3. 3
    A penult, a next to last; The penultimate day of a month. obsolete, rare, uncommon

    "At Woodstock, the penultimate of August."

  4. 4
    A penult, a next to last; The penultimate syllable of a word or metrical line. uncommon

    "Antepenultimate is that before the Penultimate, or the last but two."

  5. 5
    A penult, a next to last; The penultimate element of a collection of curves. obsolete, rare, uncommon
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  1. 6
    A penult, a next to last; The penultimate (next to lowest) card in a suit. uncommon

    "Penultimate, the. — Beginning with the lowest card but one of the suit you lead originally, if it contains more than four cards."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Etymology tree Latin paene Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Italic *-tm̥mos Proto-Italic *oltm̥mos Latin ultimus Latin paenultimus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate English penultimate From Latin paenultimus (“penultimate”) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix), from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”). Equivalent to pene- + ultimate. Compare French pénultième.

Etymology 2

From a substantivation of the above adjective. Equivalent to Latin paenultimus + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

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