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penultimate

adjective

Simple meaning

Next to last, second to last.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pehnuhltuhmuht

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

pɛˈnʌltəmət

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. UKin US usually formalliterary or scholarly

    Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc.

  2. linguistics

    Of or pertaining to a penult.

  3. proscribed

    Pre-eminent, ultimate, best; par excellence, top-quality

Word at a Glance

Frequency
Rare

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Relating / penultimate

penultimate paragraphpenultimate line

Next / penult

penultimate stage

Other combinations

penultimate chapterpenultimate syllablepenultimate sectionpenultimate segmentpenultimate scene

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.