different between penultimate vs propenultimate

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

pro- +? penultimate

Adjective

propenultimate (not comparable)

1. (rare) Two before the last, an alternative to antepenultimate.
   • 1929, Martin Armstrong, The Sleeping Fury, book 1 Charlotte At Fifty, chapter 1:

     “Halnaker is the family name?”
     “Yes. Spelt H-a-l-n-a-k-e-r and pronounced Hannaker, with the accent on the Hann—the pro-penultimate, as we were taught to call it at school. The propenultimate, if you please. What unmitigated nonsense! Why not the last-but-two?”

   • 1997, Georg Capellanus and Rod McLeod, Latin Can be Fun (Facetiae Latinae): A Modern Conversational Guide (Sermo Hodiernus Antique Redditus):

     In Latin polysyllabic words are stressed on the penultimate syllable if this is long; otherwise on the propenultimate syllable, provided that there is one.

Related terms

• penultimate
• preantepenultimate
• ultimate