ultimately

English

Etymology

From ultimate +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʌl.tɪ.mɪt.lɪ/, /ˈʌl.tɪ.mət.li/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʌl.tɪ.mɪt.li/, [ˈʌl.tɪ.mɪɾ.li], IPA^(key): /ˈʌl.tə.mət.li/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈʌl.tɪ.mɪt.li/, [ˈʌl.tɪ.mɪɾ.li]
• Hyphenation: ul‧tim‧ate‧ly

Adverb

ultimately (not comparable)

1. Indicating the last item.

   Synonyms: at last, finally, in the end; see also Thesaurus:lastly

   Firstly,… Secondly,… Ultimately,…

2. Indicating the most important action.

   Synonyms: at the end of the day, when all is said and done; see also Thesaurus:fundamentally

   Ultimately, he will have to make a decision before the end of the week.

   • 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     That Wolves reached half-time on level terms had much to do with the ultimately luckless Hennessey, who was in action in the opening minute to tip away Samir Nasri's shot following a City corner.

3. (linguistics) Used to indicate the etymon at which a given etymological derivation terminates.

   Synonym: terminal etymon

   Cognate to Gottscheerish boßər, bàsser. Ultimately cognate to standard High German Wasser.

   Shortened from maxiature, ultimately from Latin maximus ("large").

   Ultimately from Latin equus ("horse").

Translations

indicating the last item

• Bulgarian: накрая (bg) (nakraja)
• Catalan: finalment (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最後／最后 (zh) (zuìhòu)

• Czech: nakonec (cs)
• Danish: til sidst
• Finnish: viimeiseksi, lopuksi (fi)
• French: ultimo (fr)
• Georgian: საბოლოოდ (sabolood), საბოლოო ჯამში (saboloo ǯamši), ბოლოს და ბოლოს (bolos da bolos)
• German: schließlich (de)
• Hungarian: végül (hu)
• Italian: infine (it), per ultimo, per ultima cosa, in fin dei conti (it)
• Japanese: 最終的に (ja) (さいしゅうてきに, saishūteki ni)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: til sist, til slutt

• Persian: درنهایت (darnahâyat), نهایتاً (nahâyatan)
• Polish: ostatecznie (pl)
• Portuguese: finalmente (pt) m, no fim das contas (idiomatic)
• Romanian: la urma urmei, în definitiv
• Russian: в конце́ концо́в (ru) (v koncé koncóv), (и) наконе́ц (ru) ((i) nakonéc), после́днее (ru) (poslédneje)
• Spanish: finalmente (es), por último, últimamente (es), ultimadamente (es)
• Turkish: nihayet (tr)
• Ukrainian: зре́штою (uk) (zréštoju)

indicating the most important action

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最終／最终 (zh) (zuìzhōng)

• Danish: til syvende og sidst, når alt kommer til alt (da), når det kommer til stykket (da)
• Finnish: ennen kaikkea (fi)
• German: letztendlich (de)
• Irish: i ndeireadh na dála
• Italian: alla fine, per ultimo, in definitiva
• Japanese: 最終的に (ja) (さいしゅうてきに, saishūteki ni)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: til syvende og sist, når alt kommer til alt, når det kommer til stykket (no)

• Portuguese: principalmente (pt), no fim das contas (idiomatic)
• Russian: в коне́чном счёте (v konéčnom sčóte), в коне́чном ито́ге (v konéčnom itóge)
• Spanish: a fin de cuentas, al fin y al cabo
• Turkish: sonunda (tr)
• Ukrainian: зре́штою (uk) (zréštoju)

Further reading

• “ultimately”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.