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.
My harbor, and my ultimate repose.
Milton.
Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive to this our ultimate happiness.
Addison.
2.
Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.
Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we can not rationally contradict.
Coleridge.
3.
Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an ultimate constituent of matter.
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.
Syn. -- Final; conclusive. See Final.
© Webster 1913.
Ul"ti*mate (?), v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Ultimated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Ultimating.]
1.
To come or bring to an end; to eventuate; to end.
[R.]
2.
To come or bring into use or practice.
[R.]
© Webster 1913.