Penultimate vs Final - What's the difference?
penultimate | final |
Next to last]], second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, [[etc.
* {{quote-book
, year= 1677
, isbn=
, date=
, author= (Robert Plot)
, title=The natural history of Oxford-shire: Being an Essay Toward the Natural History of England
, url= http://books.google.com/books?id=EUqd_M1x40QC&pg=PA15
, page= 15
, chapter= Of the Heavens and Air
, passage=
}}
* 1878 , , Life and Habit , ch. 10:
* 1913 , , The Valley of the Moon , ch. 3:
(linguistics) Of or pertaining to a penult.
(math, rare) Relating to or denoting an element of a related collection of curves that is arbitrarily close to a degenerate form.
(uncommon) A penult, a next-to-last thing, 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.
# (obsolete, rare) The day of a month.
#* 1529 August 30 , Bishop Stephen Gardiner, letter (1933), 33:
# (linguistics, literature, uncommon) The syllable of a word or metrical line.
#* 1728 , E. Chambers Cyclopædia :
# (math, obsolete, rare) The element of a collection of curves.
# (cards, uncommon) The (next to lowest) card in a suit.
#* 1876 , (Arthur Campbell-Walker), The Correct Card , Glossary page xiii:
(US) A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.
(sports) The last round, game or match in a contest, after which the winner is determined.
A contest that narrows a field of contestants (finalists) to ranked positions, usually in numbered places (1st place/prize, 2nd place/prize, etc.) or a winner and numbered runners-up (1st runner-up, etc.).
(phonology) The final part of a syllable, the combination of medial and rime in phonetics and phonology.
(music) The tonic or keynote of a Gregorian mode, and hence the final note of any conventional melody played in that mode.
Last; ultimate.
:
*1671 , (John Milton), (Samson Agonistes)
*:Yet despair not of his final pardon.
Conclusive; decisive.
:
Respecting an end or object to be gained; respecting the purpose or ultimate end in view.
(lb) Expressing purpose; as in the term final clause.
(lb) Word-final, occurring at the end of a word.
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
In linguistics terms the difference between penultimate and final
is that penultimate is of or pertaining to a penult while final is word-final, occurring at the end of a word.As adjectives the difference between penultimate and final
is that penultimate is next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc while final is last; ultimate.As nouns the difference between penultimate and final
is that penultimate is a penult, a next-to-last thing, particularly while final is a final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.penultimate
English
Alternative forms
*Adjective
(-)- 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.
- “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.”
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. While ''last but one'' continues to be somewhat more popular in Britain, however, ''next to last , (second to last), have been gaining in popularity.Synonyms
* next to last, next-to-last, second to last, second-to-last, second from last, second-from-last, second last, second-last, (now, chiefly, UK) last but one, last ~ but oneCoordinate terms
* (syllable adjectives)Derived terms
* antepenultimate * penultimately * preantepenultimate * propenultimate * propreantepenultimateNoun
(en noun)- At , the penultimate of August.
- Antepenultimate is that before the Penultimate , or the last but two.
- Penultimate , the . — Beginning with the lowest card but one of the suit you lead originally, if it contains more than four cards.