penultimate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 13, 2025 is: penultimate \pih-NUL-tuh-mut\ adjective Penultimate means "occurring immediately before the last one," or in other words, "next to last." A formal adjective, it is always used before the noun it modifies. // The penultimate episode of the TV series features some shocking plot twists that set up what will surely be a thrilling series finale. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penultimate) Examples: "The high school soccer playoffs are down to their penultimate round with the state semifinals looming later this week after a select few regional champions were crowned on Tuesday." — Matt Welch, The Plano (Texas) Star Courier, 2 Apr. 2025 Did you know? Penultimate isn't the last word in words for things that are next to last. It has a pair of closely-related noun synonyms: [penult](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penult) and [penultima](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penultima). Although all three concern something that's next to last, penult and penultima are usually a bit more specific; they are used most often to identify the next to last syllable of a word. All three come from paenultima, the feminine of paenultimus, a Latin root from paene ("almost") and ultimus ("last"). You may occasionally hear the word penultimate used as an intensified version of [ultimate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ultimate), as in "a race they've called 'the penultimate challenge.'" This use isn't typically found in edited prose, however, or in dictionaries, as discussed in [this video](https://bit.ly/4giflrr).