ultimate

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʌl.tɪ.mət/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ultimātus (“completed, last, final”), the past participle of ultimāre “to come to an end, be last”,^[2][3][4] from Latin ultimus “last, final, farthest”,^[2][5] the superlative of *ulter “beyond”,^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *al- (“beyond”).^[2] It is related to ultimatum, ulterior, penultimate and ultra.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of aims or designs, lying beyond all others, forming the final object: 1654 in the OED and Barnhart, in the writings of Jeremy Taylor;^[7][5] the 1650s in Etymonline, in theology, as in ultimate purpose.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Coming at the end of a process or series is from 1660,^[7] and beyond which no analysis can go, fundamental, from 1659.^[7][2] The Century Dictionary contrasted it with final: an ultimate cause is the original cause beyond which none can be traced, while a final cause is the end toward which action is directed.^[2] The noun, the final or fundamental point, is from 1681.^[5][3] The sense “the best or most extreme of its kind”, as in the ultimate in luxury, dates from the late 17th century.^[6] In engineering, ultimate strength or load is the value at which something breaks (1858).^[7] Ultimate Frisbee is by 1972.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1654 – forming the final aim.^[7][5]
• 1659 – fundamental, beyond analysis.^[7]
• 1660 – last in a process.^[7]
• 1681 – noun.^[5][3]
• 1858 – of strength, at the point of breaking.^[7]
• 1972 – ultimate Frisbee.^[7][2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Last in a series or process; final: the ultimate goal.
2. Most basic or fundamental: the ultimate cause.
3. Greatest, best or most extreme of its kind.

Noun

1. the ultimate: the best or most extreme example of something.
2. A basic fact or principle.

Word family

• ultimateness
• ultimately
• subultimate
• antepenultimate
• penultimate

Related words

• ulterior
• ultimatum
• ultra
• ultra-

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press