last quarter

American

noun

Astronomy.

the instant, approximately one week after a full moon, when half of the moon's disk is illuminated by the sun.

last quarter British

noun

one of the four principal phases of the moon, occurring between full moon and new moon, when half the lighted surface is visible Compare first quarter

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

“What we saw last quarter was a lot of bad getting worse,” said Finian O’Shea, an analyst at Wells Fargo.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Nationwide, trade and technical school revenue hit $5.1 billion in the last quarter of 2025, up 41% from four years before that, according to federal data.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Similar to last quarter, Abbott’s nutrition business continued to drag on the results as sales fell 7.7% on a comparable basis.

From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026

Excluding Waymo, $20 billion was still invested across nearly 150 companies tracked by Space Capital last quarter.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

The first recognition of malignancies traceable to the age of industry came during the last quarter of the 19th century.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023