Ultimate

//ˈʌltɪmət// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The most basic or fundamental of a set of things countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the finest or most superior quality of its kind wordnet
  3. 3
    The final or most distant point; the conclusion countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The greatest extremity; the maximum countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    Ellipsis of ultimate frisbee or ultimate disc. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To finish; to complete. archaic, transitive

    "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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Final; last in a series. not-comparable

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

  2. 2
    Last in a word or other utterance. not-comparable
  3. 3
    Being the greatest possible; maximum; most extreme.

    "the ultimate pleasure"

  4. 4
    Being the most distant or extreme; farthest.
  5. 5
    That will happen at some time; eventual. not-comparable
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final. not-comparable

    "those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we cannot rationally contradict"

  2. 7
    Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental. not-comparable

    "an ultimate constituent of matter"

Adjective
  1. 1
    being the last or concluding element of a series wordnet
  2. 2
    furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
crowningeventualfinallastsupremeutmost

Example

More examples

"What is the ultimate purpose of education?"

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.

Related phrases

pay the ultimate pricesuper-ultimateultimate sacrificeultimate tensile strengthultimate wheelend zonenon contactteam sport

More for "ultimate"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.