- last
- last vb endure, *continue, abide, persistAntonyms: fleetlast adj Last, latest, final, terminal, concluding, eventual, ultimate are comparable when they mean following all the others in time or order or in importance.What is last comes at the end of a series, especially of things of the same kind or class; the term usually implies that no more will follow or have followed{
the last page of a book
}{their last child is now ten years of age
}{fairest of stars, last in the train of night— Milton
}but it may imply only that the thing so qualified is or was the most recent or is the closest or nearest with respect to the present or a given time or period{his last book is his best so far
}{their last visit to us was in December
}In this latter sense latest may be preferred as less ambiguous; thus, "his latest book" is clearer than "his last book" since the latter wording might suggest the author's ensuing death{the latest number of a current magazine
}{the latest news is that all is well
}{vetoed the latest version of Norris's . . . bill— Lepawsky
}What is final definitely closes a series or process not only because it is the last in order of individuals or details{the final day of school
}{the final float in the procession
}{the final event on a program
}but because it is decisive or conclusive{the final answer to this question is still to be found
}{a final decree of divorce
}{judgment that is final, that settles a matter— Dewey
}{a genuinely popular ballad can have no fixed and final form, no sole authentic version— Child
}What is terminal comes at the end of something and marks the limit of its extension, its growth, or its completion as a series or process{the terminal point of a railroad
}{the Tamiami Trail, a name compounded of the syllables from the names of its terminal cities, Tampa and Miami— Amer. Guide Series: Fla.
}{little newsboys crying their wares in correct Bostonese, down to broad a's and softened terminal r's— Price
}What is concluding brings something (as a speech, a book, a program, a celebration) to an end or marks its finish{the concluding address was delivered by the chairman
}{provoked comparison by making their concluding paragraphs almost identical— R. G. Davis)}
}What is eventual is bound to follow as the final effect of causes already in operation or of causes that will be operative if a given or understood contingency occurs{the silent decay and eventual overthrow of her natural defenses— Gladstone
}{it is his object to point out the necessity... for a deliberate and purposive art of eugenics, if we would prevent the eventual shipwreck of civilization— Ellis
}What is ultimate (see also ULTIMATE 2) is the last, final, or terminal element in a series or process{this ultimate book of my autobiography— Osbert Sitwell
}{the ultimate stage in a process of descent— Ellis
}or is the final outcome or end to which a person or thing is moving or working{the ultimate effect of a drug
}{when I think of the earth's refrigeration, and the ultimate collapse of our solar system— L. P. Smith
}or is the most remote in time, either past or future, or most important in a scale of values{the ultimate effect of a war
}{that word comes into English from French, but its ultimate source is Sanskrit
}{its utopianism interferes with an interest in proximate, rather than ultimate, goals— Niebuhr
}Antonyms: first
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
