different between penultimate vs nexttolast
penultimate
English
Alternative forms
- pænultimate
Etymology
From Latin paenultimus, from paene (“almost”) + ultimus (“last”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /p??n?lt?m?t/
Adjective
penultimate (not comparable)
- (Britain, in US usually formal, literary or scholarly) Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc.
- 1878, Samuel Butler, Life and Habit, ch. 10:
- But it should frequently happen that offspring should resemble its penultimate rather than its latest phase, and should thus be more like a grand-parent than a parent.
- 1913, Jack London, The Valley of the Moon, ch. 3:
- “Your clothes don't weigh more'n seven pounds. And seven from—hum—say one hundred an' twenty-three—one hundred an' sixteen is your stripped weight.”
- But at the penultimate word, Mary cried out with sharp reproof:
- “Why, Billy Roberts, people don't talk about such things.”
- 1878, Samuel Butler, Life and Habit, ch. 10:
- (linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult.
- (mathematics, rare) Relating to or denoting an element of a related collection of curves that is arbitrarily close to a degenerate form.
Usage notes
While the Latinate penultimate is predominant in written works, the traditional English expressions for this idea were last but one and (less often) second last. Following the 1920s, American use has favored next to last to the point that last but one functions as a Britishism. Although last but one continues to be somewhat more popular in Britain, next to last, second to last, etc. have been gaining in popularity.
Synonyms
- (immediately preceding the end of a list, sequence, etc.): next to last, next-to-last, second to last, second-to-last, second from last, second-from-last, second last, second-last, (now chiefly Britain) last but one, last ~ but one
Antonyms
- second
Coordinate terms
- (adjectives denoting syllables): ultimate (last), antepenultimate (last but two), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)
Derived terms
Related terms
See also
- peninitial
Translations
Noun
penultimate (plural penultimates)
- (uncommon) A penult, a next to last, particularly:
- 1962, Minutes of the Adjourned Meeting of 22nd Biennial Convention of the United Lutheran Church in America, XXII.iv:
- Our Lutheran concern for the ultimates (the Gospel) has allowed us to neglect some of the penultimates (bodily healing), failing to stress the total implications of that ultimate Gospel.
- (obsolete, rare) The penultimate day of a month.
- 1529 August 30, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, letter (1933), 33:
- At Woodstock, the penultimate of August.
- 1529 August 30, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, letter (1933), 33:
- (linguistics, literature, uncommon) The penultimate syllable of a word or metrical line.
- 1728, E. Chambers Cyclopædia:
- Antepenultimate is that before the Penultimate, or the last but two.
- 1728, E. Chambers Cyclopædia:
- (mathematics, obsolete, rare) The penultimate element of a collection of curves.
- (card games, uncommon) The penultimate (next to lowest) card in a suit.
- 1876, Arthur Campbell-Walker, The Correct Card, Glossary page xiii:
- Penultimate, the. — Beginning with the lowest card but one of the suit you lead originally, if it contains more than four cards.
- 1876, Arthur Campbell-Walker, The Correct Card, Glossary page xiii:
- Synonym: penult
- 1962, Minutes of the Adjourned Meeting of 22nd Biennial Convention of the United Lutheran Church in America, XXII.iv:
Translations
References
- Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "penultimate, n. & adj." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2005.
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nexttolast
nexttolast From the web:
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