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Ultimate vs Utmost - What's the difference?

ultimate | utmost |

As adjectives the difference between ultimate and utmost

is that ultimate is final; last in a series while utmost is situated at the most distant limit; farthest.

As nouns the difference between ultimate and utmost

is that ultimate is the most basic or fundamental of a set of things while utmost is maximum; greatest possible amount or quantity.

ultimate

English

Adjective

(wikipedia ultimate) (-)
  • Final; last in a series.
  • * {{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= }}
  • (of a syllable) Last in a word or other utterance.
  • Being the greatest possible; maximum; most extreme.
    • the ultimate pleasure
    the ultimate disappointment
  • *
    • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  • Being the most distant or extreme; farthest.
  • That will happen at some time; eventual.
  • Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.
  • * Coleridge
    • those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we cannot rationally contradict
  • Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental.
    • an ultimate constituent of matter

    Antonyms

    * proximate

    Derived terms

    * antepenultimate * penultimate * ultimateness

    Coordinate terms

    * (syllable adjectives)

    Related terms

    * ulterior * ultimatum * ultra * ultra-

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The most basic or fundamental of a set of things
  • The final or most distant point; the conclusion
  • The greatest extremity; the maximum
  • (uncountable) The sport of ultimate frisbee.

    • External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    utmost

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Situated at the most distant limit; farthest
  • * Evelyn
    • We coasted within two leagues of Antibes, which is the utmost town in France.
  • * Herbert
    • Betwixt two thieves I spend my utmost breath.
  • The most extreme; ultimate; greatest
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • He shall answerto his utmost peril.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost . She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
  • * 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .
    • Indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.

    Related terms

    * outermost * outmost * uttermost

    Noun

    (-)
  • Maximum; greatest possible amount or quantity.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost . She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}