penultimate
adjective
Did you know?
Penultimate isn't the last word in words for things that are next to last. It has a pair of closely-related noun synonyms: penult and penultima. Although all three concern 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 come from paenultima, the feminine of paenultimus, a Latin root from paene ("almost") and ultimus ("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, as discussed in this video.
Examples of penultimate in a Sentence
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
Michelle Lee, PEOPLE, 24 Nov. 2025
Jackson debuted the character in the penultimate episode of Tulsa King season 3, having been sent to Tulsa to kill Dwight for the Renzetti crime family — specifically Quiet Ray (James Russo) — in New York.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Nov. 2025
The interest has also grown immensely with younger viewers, with a 1.68 rating among adults 18-34, the best delivery in the younger demo in 10 years and the strongest for a penultimate episode in 14 years.
—Emily Longeretta, Variety, 20 Nov. 2025
Even when done well, the penultimate flashback episode has become such an endemic storytelling strategy in TV dramas that it should be abandoned on principle.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for penultimate
Cite this Entry
“Penultimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penultimate. Accessed 7 Dec. 2025.
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