PENULTIMATE

penultimate, next-to-last

(adjective) second last; “the author inadvertently reveals the murderer in the penultimate chapter”; “the figures in the next-to-last column”

penult, penultima, penultimate

(noun) the next to last syllable in a word

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

penultimate (not comparable)

(UK, in US usually, formal, literary or scholarly) Next to last, second to last; immediately preceding the end of a sequence, list, etc.

(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.

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. Although last but one continues to be somewhat more popular in Britain, next to last, second to last, etc. have been gaining in popularity.

Synonyms

• (immediately preceding the end of a list, sequence, etc.): 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 one

Antonyms

• second

Coordinate terms

• (adjectives denoting syllables): ultimate (last), penultimate (last but one), antepenultimate (last but two), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)