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.

Investors in the nontraded business development company had sought to redeem 21.9% of the shares outstanding last quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Excluding contributions from ironSource and Supersonic, revenue within Unity’s Grow unit rose 48% last quarter, “double the growth rate of the comparable metric inclusive of the two units.”

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

The survey found that 62.5% of retail investors plan to invest surplus cash into ETFs, which is up from 58.9% last quarter.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 25, 2026

In its first year on the market, it helped Huggies sell more diapers, grab more market share and was one of the driving forces behind a 13.1% jump in company profit last quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

Scoob read To Kill a Mockingbird in language arts last quarter.

From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone

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