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penultimate
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As an adjective, penultimate means next to last, second to last. As a noun, it means a penult, a next to last, particularly:.
Meanings of penultimate
9 meaningsadjective
UKin us usually formalliteraryscholarlyNext to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc.
linguisticsOf or pertaining to a penult.
proscribedPre-eminent, ultimate, best; par excellence, top-quality
Older and rare meanings (1)
mathrareRelating to or denoting an element of a related collection of curves that is arbitrarily close to a degenerate form.
noun
uncommonA penult, a next to last, particularly:
linguisticsliteratureuncommonThe penultimate syllable of a word or metrical line.
cardsuncommonThe penultimate (next to lowest) card in a suit.
Older and rare meanings (2)
obsoleterareThe penultimate day of a month.
mathobsoleterareThe penultimate element of a collection of curves.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).