last word
Americannoun
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the closing remark or comment, as in an argument.
By the rules of debate she would have the last word.
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a final or definitive work, statement, etc..
This report is the last word on the treatment of arthritis.
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the latest, most modern thing.
Casual hairdos are the last word this season.
Etymology
Origin of last word
First recorded in 1880–85
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.
In the opera, it so happens, the ghosts of Akhnaten, his wife and mother, have the last word in a glorious trio.
From Los Angeles Times
Claude, which wholeheartedly entered into the spirit of the exercise, and is developing a sense of humor, gets the last word.
As the demand grew for a portrait by Gainsborough, he himself became fashionable and was taken up by King George III. Even so, the name “Van Dyck” was among the artist’s last words.
‘I want to end with the last words I spoke to her,’ Will says.
From Literature
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My voice cracked a little on that last word.
From Literature
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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.