antepenultimate
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English
| ← 2 | 3 | 4 → |
|---|---|---|
| Cardinal: three Ordinal: third Latinate ordinal: tertiary Reverse order ordinal: third to last Latinate reverse order ordinal: antepenultimate Adverbial: three times, thrice Multiplier: threefold Latinate multiplier: triple Distributive: triply Germanic collective: trio, threesome Collective of n parts: triplet Greek or Latinate collective: triad Greek collective prefix: tri- Latinate collective prefix: tri- Fractional: third Elemental: triplet Greek prefix: trito- Number of musicians: trio, triplet Number of years: triennium | ||
Alternative forms
Etymology
From ante- + penultimate, modelled on[1] Latin antepaenultima/antepēnultima (syllaba) (“last syllable but two in a word”), from the feminine of antepaenultimus/antepēnultimus (“antepenultimate”).[2]
Adjective
antepenultimate (not comparable)
- Two before the last, i.e., the one immediately before the penultimate, in a series.
- This book has ten chapters — chapter 8 is the antepenultimate one.
- 1677, Robert Plot, “Of the Heavens and Air”, in The natural history of Oxford-shire: Being an Essay Toward the Natural History of England, page 15:
- […] they [the sounds of an echo] next strike the ultimate secondary object, then the penultimate and antepenultimate; […]
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
- (adjectives denoting syllables): ultimate (last), penultimate (last but one), preantepenultimate (last but three), propreantepenultimate (last but four)
Derived terms
Translations
two before the last
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Noun
antepenultimate (plural antepenultimates)
- The third before the last in a series. e.g. (..., antepenultimate, penultimate, ultimate)
- The syllable that comes two before the last in a word.
- Synonym: antepenult
- The words animal, citizen, comedy, dangerous, obvious, and antepenultimate are stressed on the antepenultimate.
Related terms
Translations
the syllable 3nd from last
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definition — see target
References
- ^ “antepenultimate, adj. and n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, archived from the original on 2023-11-04.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “antepenultimate (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
