maximal

Etymology

It is formed from English maximum + -al,^[2][3][4] and Etymonline and Klein take the first part directly from Latin maximus (“greatest”).^[5][6] The OED, revised in 2001, allows either this formation, perhaps modelled on minimal (compare optimal), or a borrowing of French maximal, recorded in 1877 in Littré's Supplement.^[7] The Latin adjective is the superlative of magnus (“great, large”),^[5][7] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *meg- (“great”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or constituting a maximum; of the greatest possible size, duration or capacity: 1882, in the London Medical Record.^[7][2] Etymonline dates the word to 1872,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1880–85.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In 1897 mathematicians took it up for an element of an ordered set that has no greater element in the set;^[7] the American Heritage Dictionary also records such an element as a noun, a maximal.^[8] The adverb maximally appeared in the late 19th century and the noun maximality in the mid 20th.^[3] Klein lists maximalist as a further derivative.^[6]

Timeline

• 1882 – of or constituting a maximum; as great as possible.^[7][2] Etymonline dates it to 1872.^[5]
• 1897 – in mathematics, of an element of an ordered set with no greater element.^[7]
• mid 20th century – the noun maximality.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or constituting a maximum; the greatest or highest possible: the maximal load the crane can lift.^{[8][9][10][7]}
2. (mathematics) Of an element of an ordered set: having no other element of the set greater than it.^[7][10]

Noun

1. (mathematics) An element of an ordered set that no other element follows.^[8]

Word family

• maximally
• maximalist
• postmaximal
• submaximal
• maximal ideal

Related words

• maximum
• minimal
• optimal
• maxim
• magnitude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins