ultimately
Britishadverb
Explanation
Ultimately means "at the very end of the process." Your strategy of robbing banks with a water gun worked a few times, but ultimately it was unsuccessful. Use ultimately when you want to stress that there are many different elements of something, but in the end there's one clear conclusion. The city parks department might listen to everyone's ideas for what to do with that empty lot, but ultimately they'll do whatever they think will serve the city best. Ultimately comes from the Latin ultimāre, meaning, lying at the very end.
Vocabulary lists containing ultimately
Tuesdays with Morrie
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Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
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Obama, on the 50th anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday'
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"To understand whether thawing permafrost ultimately amplifies or dampens climate warming, we need to consider both the carbon released from ancient soils and the carbon consumed through rock weathering."
From Science Daily • Jun. 20, 2026
For Jones, that’s ultimately what makes Lestat feel like a contemporary artist.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026
If anything, it muddled our relationship, the communicative signals of the PetPhone confusing Clover and ultimately making me feel distanced from her.
From Slate • Jun. 20, 2026
Late Thursday, the White House announced that Vance would ultimately not be travelling for the ceremony, at least for now.
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
The abuse of civil liberties brought about by the Palmer Raids ultimately shocked fair-minded citizens.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
