penultimate C1 Topic:Time US /pɪˈnʌl.tə.mət/ UK /pɪˈnʌl.tɪ.mət/ See IPA manual Freq #50122 Meanings 1 adj coming immediately before the last in a sequence; second to last The pistol fired its penultimate shot before finally falling silent. 2 noun the next-to-last item in a sequence, especially the next-to-last syllable of a word In the Latin word amicus, the penultimate is the syllable mi. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · coming immediately before... next-to-lastsecond-to-lastlast but one 2 noun · the next-to-last item in a... penult ↔ Opposites ultimatelast Word family Derived forms antepenultimatepenultimately Related forms penultultimate Etymology From Latin paenultimus ("almost last"), formed from paene ("almost") + ultimus ("last"), with the English adjectival ending -ate. Its literal structure is therefore "almost ultimate." Topics Time External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # penultimate **Type:** Word **Level:** C1 **Part of speech:** adj, noun **IPA (US):** /pɪˈnʌl.tə.mət/ **IPA (UK):** /pɪˈnʌl.tɪ.mət/ **Frequency rank:** 50122 ## Meanings 1. coming immediately before the last in a sequence; second to last 2. the next-to-last item in a sequence, especially the next-to-last syllable of a word ## Examples - The pistol fired its penultimate shot before finally falling silent. - In the Latin word amicus, the penultimate is the syllable mi. ## Synonyms - next-to-last - second-to-last - last but one - penult ## Antonyms - ultimate - last ## Derived Forms - antepenultimate - penultimately ## Related Forms - penult - ultimate ## Etymology From Latin paenultimus ("almost last"), formed from paene ("almost") + ultimus ("last"), with the English adjectival ending -ate. Its literal structure is therefore "almost ultimate." ## Topics - Time markdown