from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ultimate \Ul"ti*mate\, a. [LL. ultimatus last, extreme, fr. L.
ultimare to come to an end, fr. ultimus the farthest, last,
superl. from the same source as ulterior. See {Ulterior}, and
cf. {Ultimatum}.]
1. Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last;
final.
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My harbor, and my ultimate repose. --Milton.
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Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive
to this our ultimate happiness. --Addison.
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2. Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended
toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last
result; final.
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Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of
thought which we can not rationally contradict.
--Coleridge.
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3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further
division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an
ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter.
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{Ultimate analysis} (Chem.), organic analysis. See under
{Organic}.
{Ultimate belief}. See under {Belief}.
{Ultimate ratio} (Math.), the limiting value of a ratio, or
that toward which a series tends, and which it does not
pass.
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Syn: Final; conclusive. See {Final}.
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