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.
“We ultimately all are actuaries, right? We’re all trying to predict and make our decisions based on probabilities,” Beane says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Concanon was ultimately found not to have sent any racist texts.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
It’s a form of harassment, even if it’s ultimately not successful in securing the prosecution and I understand that.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said in a note: “Markets generally continue to trade on optimism that the conflict will ultimately be sorted out in weeks.”
From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026
The prize ultimately went to Amundsen on December 14, 1911, and Scott stumbled to the Pole just over than a month later, on January 17, 1912.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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.
