Definition of penultimate
1 : next to the last the penultimate chapter of a book
2 : of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word a penultimate accent
penultimately
adverbPeople Are Reading
penultimate was our Word of the Day on 12/01/2014. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of penultimate in a Sentence
Belle was the penultimate person to die, just hours before a slave, fifty-three-year-old Alba, wandered in delirium away from his cabin and sat down to death in front of Carlyle's airing-out cottage. —Edward P. Jones, The Known World, 2003
He threw harder in the last inning than he did in the first, whiffing pinch hitter Darryl Strawberry with a 97-mph heater for the penultimate out and blowing away the final hitter, Knoblauch, with a 96-mph fastball. —Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, 27 Mar. 2000
… regulations have cleared the penultimate hurdle and appear ready to become law … —John Aloysius Farrell, Sunday Denver (CO) Post, 2 Sept. 1984
Pompey … speaks of her mother's difficult death and of her own longings for death and rises to a rare moment of lyric power in the novel's penultimate paragraph. —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review, 3 Oct. 1982
the penultimate syllable of the word
Recent Examples of penultimate from the Web
-
Last week, the series’s penultimate episode thrust Kevin (Justin Theroux) into a political thriller, starring as both the president of the United States and his would-be assassin.
-
Five tournament victories helped South Africa -- known as the Blitzboks -- seal the championship at the penultimate tournament in Paris.
-
Since March 12, the Warriors have lost once -- vs. Utah, in the penultimate game of a 67-15 regular season.
-
Nairo Quintana held on to the pink jersey in the penultimate stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday but couldn't be sure of victory.
-
Patel's brightest moment might have come on the penultimate point of the match.
-
The Fox drama closed out the broadcast season with an average 2.4 rating among adults 18-49, a two-tenths of a point lift from the penultimate episode, and 6.9 million viewers.
-
Penultimate Frisbee This mischief-friendly disc capitalizes on the eye's persistence of vision, turning a single row of LEDs into a flying, programmable billboard.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'penultimate'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Penultimate isn't the last word in words for things that are next to last. There is a pair of noun synonyms that are used commonly enough to have gained entry into abridged dictionaries: penult and penultima. Although all three can refer to something that's next to last, penult and penultima are usually a bit more specific; they are used most often to identify the next to last syllable of a word. All three derive from paenultima, a Latin root from paene ("almost") and ultima ("last"). You may occasionally hear the word penultimate used as an intensified version of ultimate, as in "a race they've called 'the penultimate challenge.'" This use isn't typically found in edited prose, however-or in dictionaries. One of our editors discusses it in this video.
Origin and Etymology of penultimate
see penult
PENULTIMATE Defined for English Language Learners
penultimate
playDefinition of penultimate for English Language Learners
-
: occurring immediately before the last one : next to the last
Learn More about penultimate
-
Spanish Central: Translation of penultimate Nglish: Translation of penultimate for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of penultimate for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up penultimate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!