penultimate

adjective

pen·ul·ti·mate pi-ˈnəl-tə-mət

Synonyms of penultimate next

: next to the last

the penultimate chapter of a book

: of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word

a penultimate accent

penultimately adverb

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, 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. One of our editors discusses it in this video.

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 on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Having the big bloodbath take place in the penultimate episode rather than the season finale is, at this point, a pretty old-school HBO-style maneuver, dating back to the New Golden Age heyday that ran from The Sopranos through Game of Thrones. —

Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024 On record, only four hurricanes have hit the U.S. in the penultimate month of the year. —

David Faris, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024 The Paris Masters is the penultimate event on the ATP tour and most of the players are ready to put down their rackets. —

Tim Ellis, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024 Trump and his aides say there are good reasons to do this rally on the presidential campaign's penultimate weekend. —

David Jackson, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for penultimate