Ultimate

Ultimate , adjective

[Late Latin ultimatus last, extreme, from Latin ultimare to come to an end, from ultimus the farthest, last, superl. from the same source as ulterior. See Ulterior, and compare Ultimatum.]

Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last; final.

My harbor, and my ultimate repose. — Milton

Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive to this our ultimate happiness. — Addison

Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.

Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we can not rationally contradict. — Coleridge

Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter.

Collocations (3)

Ultimate analysis (Chemistry) , organic analysis. See under Organic.

Ultimate belief , See under Belief.

Ultimate ratio (Mathematics) , the limiting value of a ratio, or that toward which a series tends, and which it does not pass.

Ultimate , verb, transitive and intransitive

To come or bring to an end or issue; to eventuate; to end. [Rare]

To come or bring into use or practice. [Rare]