Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Coming before the next to the last in a series.
- n. An antepenult.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Immediately preceding that one of a series which is next to the last one; being the third from the last of a series: as, the antepenultimate joint of a limb.
- Pertaining to the last syllable but two.
- n. The antepenultima.
Wiktionary
- adj. Two before the last, i.e., the one immediately before the penultimate, in a series.
- adj. Last but two; third from last.
- n. Two before the last in a series. e.g. (..., antepenultimate, penultimate, ultimate)
- n. The syllable that comes two before the last in a word.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to the last syllable but two.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the 3rd syllable of a word counting back from the end
- adj. third from last
Etymologies
- ante- meaning before, pen- from the Latin paene meaning almost, and ultimate from the Latin ultimus meaning last (Wiktionary)
- From Late Latin antepaenultimus : Latin ante-, ante- + Latin paenultimus, next to last; see penult. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word is "antepenultimate", not "antipenultimate". (i.e., it's "the one before the one before the last" ... not "not the one before the last") 3.”
“I finished row 40 of the antepenultimate (11th) complete pattern repeat of the Princess centre.”
“I have just finished the antepenultimate bunch – so seven repeats, more or less, will finish edging the centre, then there will be 13 or 14 on the second edge of the border.”
“Now of course a black or liberal vote is worth as much as any other vote come Election Day, but the "support" to which Rothenberg refers in the antepenultimate quoted paragraph is support in approval polls, which are in themselves meaningless.”
“This has nothing to do with me getting the antepenultimate train into London to ensure that there is no repeat of last week's fiasco, when my last train into London was cancelled and there was no OBO as a result.”
“In the antepenultimate episode of Mad Men's very eventful Season 4, the pile-driving plot machinations of the previous episode have ground events into their trajectories.”
“Google is, of course, the antepenultimate authority, insofar as a lot of Googles take you straight to Wikipedia.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Miguel Estrada Writes in Support of Elena Kagan’s Confirmation
“Bonn, Germany ⎯ On Monday, the antepenultimate UNFCCC organizing meeting kicked off in Bonn, as representatives from the 178 governments and 3100 participants gathered to hammer out differences and draw up a draft text in preparation for the COP 16 meeting taking place in December in Cancún.”
The Huffington Post: Tina Gerhardt: Mind the Gap: Gearing up for Cancún and the COP 16
“Bonn, Germany ⯠On Monday, the antepenultimate UNFCCC organizing meeting kicked off in Bonn, as representatives from the 178 governments and 3100 participants gathered to hammer out differences and draw up a draft text in preparation for the COP 16 meeting taking place in December in Cancún.”
The Huffington Post: Tina Gerhardt: Mind the Gap: Gearing up for Cancún and the COP 16
“I guess it wouldn't have occurred to me so quickly if I was just reading the plays rather than listening to them as well, but it's obvious that Shakespeare is stressing the antepenultimate (or, as we say in English, third last) syllable: "SeMIRamis".”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘antepenultimate’.
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♗
euonym, eidolon, aurulent, sable-vested, aether, seraph, woodwose, je ne sais quoi, silver-tongued, schadenfreude, cri de coeur, mare's nest and 10 more...
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Ultimates
ultimate, penultimate, The Ultimates, Ultimate Frisbee, Ultimate, Ultimate!, preantepenultimate, antepenultimate, Ultimate Fighting..., ultimate cause, somersaultimate, resultimate and 25 more...
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Nouns
ability, man, tree, apple, computer, chip, sheep, word, letter, light, dog, cube and 61 more...
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Fancy Frills
Words I might not use in day to day language..
condescending, belligerent, antepenultimate, impasse, agonistic, decrepit, cathartic., Evanesce, dog ear, uber, gibber, audacious and 4 more...
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Double Dactyls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_dactyl
http...antediluvian, incontrovertible, incontrovertible, gubernatorial, microanatomy, higgledy piggledy, valedictorian, lexicographical, animadversional, labiovelarize, sesquipedalian, fan-fucking-tastical and 86 more...
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ante-
before; in front
antediluvian, anterior, antebellum, anticipate, antecedent, ante, antechamber, anteroom, antenatal, antedate, antepenultimate, antepenultima and 20 more...
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Serendipity's Words
defenestration, mercurial, syzygy, wicked, iniquitous, metastable, demimonde, entropic, ephemeral, irreligious, frisbee, manifold and 474 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
tatterdemalion, panopticon, idioglossia, hypnagogue, hypnopomp, defenestration, anacoluthon, scofflaw, affront, edifying, palimpsest, naufrage and 475 more...
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Stalking Darkness
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Stalking Darkness.
inquest, halyard, catamount, occlude, founder, more, grouse, grapple, water butt, antepenultimate, palimpsest, hob and 196 more...
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bkerr's Words
wyrd, absinthe, homunculus, zorkmid, informon, decider, diachronic, frak, hwæt, feldercarb, yawp, dogfooding and 540 more...
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cxfx's list
callipygous, scaphism, ubermorgen, handschuhschneeba..., farctate, autohagiography, autolatry, spindrift, feculent, verisimilitude, brobdingnagian, ineluctable and 205 more...
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words that make me happy inside
amanuensis, inamorata, armigerous, yurt, fugacious, ephemeral, gambit, defenestration, orotund, toper, teuchter, apostasy and 90 more...
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wreckingball's Words
reprehensible, problematize, crepuscular, deleterious, pestilent, strumpet, draggletail, interrobang, meretricious, systematize, schadenfreude, capricious and 443 more...
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It Has a Name??
Yes. Yes it does.
aglet, armsaye, scroop, rowel, ferrule, rasceta, chanking, philtrum, frenulum, keeper, agelast, punt and 285 more...
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mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
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Rabindranath Not Included
i can't never forget thiccyn's!
bubaline, dezinkhornifistib..., hirundine, bee veil, cuckoo spit, resistentialism, hobthrush, burniebee, hookem-snivey, fattiehead, mompyns, mons and 142 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for antepenultimate.
jmjarmstrong JM is eager to use an antepenultimate word soon. Nov 26, 2009
reesetee Good one, alguien! Thanks. Mar 26, 2007
alguien Which reminded me to add proparoxytone. Mar 26, 2007
reesetee third from the end Feb 23, 2007