different between penultimate vs penitentiary

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)

1. (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.”

2. (linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult.
3. (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)

1. (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.

   1. (obsolete, rare) The penultimate day of a month.
      • 1529 August 30, Bishop Stephen Gardiner, letter (1933), 33:

        At Woodstock, the penultimate of August.

   2. (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.

   3. (mathematics, obsolete, rare) The penultimate element of a collection of curves.
   4. (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.

   Synonym: penult

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "penultimate, n. & adj." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2005.

English

Etymology

From Middle English penitentiary, from Medieval Latin p?nitenti?rius (“place of penitence”), from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”), term used by the Quakers in Pennsylvania during the 1790s, describing a place for penitents to dwell upon their sins.

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?n'·?·t?n?·sh?·r?, IPA^(key): /?p?n??t?n???i/

Noun

penitentiary (plural penitentiaries)

1. (chiefly US) A state or federal prison for convicted felons; (broadly) a prison.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:penitentiary.
2. A priest in the Roman Catholic Church who administers the sacrament of penance.
3. (obsolete) One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     Upon the loss of Urbin, the duke's undoubted right, no penitentiary, though he had enjoined him never so straight pennance to expiate his first offence, would have counselled him to have given over pursuit of his right, which he prosperously re-obtained.

4. (obsolete) One who does penance.
5. (obsolete) A small building in a monastery, or a part of a church, where penitents confessed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shipley to this entry?)

6. (obsolete) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc.; run by a cardinal called the Grand Penitentiary who is appointed by the pope.
7. (obsolete) An officer in some dioceses since 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.

Synonyms

• (prison): pen

Related terms

• pen
• penitence

Translations

Further reading

• Penitentiary (prison) in the 1921 edition of Collier's Encyclopedia.

Adjective

penitentiary (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to penance; penitential.
   • 1654, John Bramhall, A Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism

     A penitentiary tax.

2. Of or relating to the punishment of criminals.

   • Penitentiary houses.

Coordinate terms

• (relating to the punishment of criminals): carceral

Translations