ultimatum

See also: Ultimatum, ultimátum, and ultimàtum

English

Etymology

From Latin ultimatus (“late, last final”), from Latin ultimus (“extreme, last, furthest, farthest, final”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌl.tɪˈmeɪ.təm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

ultimatum (plural ultimatums or ultimata)

1. (diplomacy) A final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another, especially one that expresses a threat of reprisal or war if the terms are not met before some specified date and time.
   • 1762 The Annual Register or a View of the History, Politicks, and Literature of the Year 1761

     . . . But he was directed to present a memorial, urging many reasons for the restitution of the captures made before the war, to represent in its full force, the benefit that would arise, both to France and England, from the total desertion of the war in Germany, and if England should refuse the conditions, now offered as an ultimatum, to wait for farther instructions.
     The ultimatum arrived in London August 8. M. Buffy soon after wrote to Mr. Pitt, and in his answer, dated August 15, says, that, as to the stile of the ultimatum and letter, the king his master adheres both to the form and substance of them, he laments that peace appears by the proposals and conduct of France to be far distant, and retorts some charges and elusion and delay.
     M. Buffy, and Mr. Pitt however, had a conference on the two ultimatums jointly, and on the 30th of August an answer to the French ultimatum was delivered, in which the French propositions are agreed to, except in the following particulars. . .

   • 1913 U.S. Naval War College: International Law Topics and Discussions

     An ultimatum may be issued containing a demand for satisfaction. Such an ultimatum is usually formulated in diplomatic terms, which would not make it too difficult for the state to which it is dispatched to find a way to adjust the difficulties. The ultimatum usually fixes the time within which an answer must be made. The United States required that Spain reply to its demand for withdrawal of Spanish forces from Cuba within three days; i. e., by April 23. War was declared on April 25. An ultimatum in itself does not necessarily involve a declaration of war unless the failure to comply with the demands carries with it a conditional declaration of war.
     The British demands upon Venezuela in 1902 required an immediate satisfaction of certain claims, and concluded: “ This communication must be regarded in the light of ultimatum.” The failure of Venezuela to satisfy these claims did not lead to an immediate war, but to an attempt to establish a pacific blockade which subsequently took the form of a true blockade.
     Whatever the preliminary negotiations or evidences of strained relations which might have received consideration prior to 1907, among those states now parties to the convention relative to the opening of hostilities, it is now necessary that there be a previous and explicit warning.
     This previous and explicit warning may take the form of a reasoned declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war.
     The reasoned declaration of war was regarded by many as necessary or at least very desirable because the opposing belligerent should be given a formal statement of the grounds of the war and the neutrals should not suffer such great changes in their ordinary rights and obligations without knowledge of the reasons.
     If instead of the reasoned declaration of war, the ultimatum with conditional declaration was employed, the reasons for the breaking off of peaceful relations would be stated in the ultimatum.

2. (diplomacy, dated) An intended final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another in a negotiation.
   • 1724 William Wynne: The Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the High-Court of Admiralty

     . . . Thirdly, That they, the Dutch, 5 or 6 Weeks after they had received these Letters, (of 12th of July) call'd for an Ultimatum, so they termed the dernier mot, from us; and that we gave our Ultimatum to the Mediators first by Word of Mouth in August, then on the 5th of September, N. S. in writing.

Derived terms

• antepenultimatum
• penultimatum
• ultimative
• ultimatum game

Related terms

• ulterior
• ultimate
• ultra
• ultra-
• dernier mot

Translations

a final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: بِلَاغ نِهَائِيّ (bilāḡ nihāʔiyy)
• Armenian: վերջնագիր (hy) (verǰnagir)
• Basque: ultimatum (eu)
• Belarusian: ультыма́тум m (ulʹtymátum)
• Bulgarian: ултима́тум (bg) m (ultimátum)
• Catalan: ultimàtum (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最後通牒 / 最后通牒 (zh) (zuìhòu tōngdié), 哀的美敦書 / 哀的美敦书 (zh) (āidìměidūn shū) (dated)

• Czech: ultimátum (cs) n
• Danish: ultimatum (da) n
• Dutch: ultimatum (nl) n
• Esperanto: ultimato (eo), ultimatumo
• Estonian: ultimaatum
• Finnish: uhkavaatimus (fi), ultimaatumi (fi)
• French: ultimatum (fr) m
• Galician: ultimato m
• Georgian: ულტიმატუმი (ulṭimaṭumi)
• German: Ultimatum (de) n
• Greek: τελεσίγραφο (el) n (telesígrafo)
• Hebrew: אוּלְטִימָטוּם (he)
• Hindi: अल्टिमेटम (hi) m (alṭimeṭam), अंतिमेत्थम् (hi) (antimettham)
• Hungarian: ultimátum (hu)
• Icelandic: úrslitakostir m pl
• Indonesian: ultimatum (id)
• Italian: ultimatum (it) m
• Japanese: 最後通牒 (ja) (さいごつうちょう, saigo tsūchō), 最後通告 (さいごつうこく, saigo tsūkoku)
• Kazakh: ультиматум (ultimatum), кескен серт (kesken sert), үзілді-кесілді талап (üzıldı-kesıldı talap)
• Korean: 최후통첩(最後通牒) (ko) (choehutongcheop)
• Latvian: ultimāts m
• Lithuanian: ultimatumas m
• Macedonian: ултима́тум m (ultimátum)
• Malay: kata dua, kemuktamadan
• Malayalam: അന്ത്യശാസനം (ml) (antyaśāsanaṁ)
• Nepali: अल्टिमेटम (ne) (alṭimeṭam)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ultimatum (no) n

• Persian: اولتیماتوم (fa) (ultimâtom), اتمام‌حجت (fa) (etmâm-e-hojjat)
• Polish: ultimatum (pl) n
• Portuguese: ultimato (pt) m
• Romanian: ultimatum (ro) n
• Russian: ультима́тум (ru) m (ulʹtimátum)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ултима́тум m

  Roman: ultimátum (sh) m

• Slovak: ultimátum n
• Slovene: ultimat m
• Spanish: ultimátum (es) m, ultimato m
• Swedish: ultimatum (sv) n
• Tajik: ултиматум (ultimatum)
• Thai: คำขาด (kam-​kàat), คำสั่งสุดท้าย (kam-​sàng-​sùt-​táai)
• Turkish: ültimatom (tr)
• Ukrainian: ультима́тум (uk) m (ulʹtymátum)
• Vietnamese: tối hậu thư (vi) (最後書)

See also

• ultimatum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Ultimatum in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Cebuano

Etymology

From English ultimatum, from Latin ultimatus (“late, last final”), from Latin ultimus (“extreme, last, furthest, farthest, final”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ul‧ti‧ma‧tum

Noun

ultimatum

1. ultimatum

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ультиматум (ulʹtimatum).

Noun

ultimatum

1. ultimatum

Declension

Declension of ultimatum

	singular	plural
nominative	ultimatum	ultimatumlar
genitive	ultimatumnıñ	ultimatumlarnıñ
dative	ultimatumğa	ultimatumlarğa
accusative	ultimatumnı	ultimatumlarnı
locative	ultimatumda	ultimatumlarda
ablative	ultimatumdan	ultimatumlardan

References

• “ultimatum”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ultimaːtɔm/, [ultˢiˈmæːtˢɔm]

Noun

ultimatum n (singular definite ultimatummet, plural indefinite ultimatummer)

1. ultimatum

Inflection

Declension of ultimatum

neuter gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ultimatum	ultimatummet	ultimatummer	ultimatummerne
genitive	ultimatums	ultimatummets	ultimatummers	ultimatummernes

Derived terms

• ultimativ

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin ultimatum, from ultimatus (“late, last final”), from ultimō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʏl.tiˈmaː.tʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ul‧ti‧ma‧tum
• Rhymes: -aːtʏm

Noun

ultimatum n (plural ultimatums or ultimata, diminutive ultimatumpje n)

1. ultimatum

Derived terms

• ultimatief

Descendants

• Afrikaans: ultimatum
• → Indonesian: ultimatum

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yl.ti.ma.tɔm/
• Rhymes: -ɔm
• Homophone: ultimatums

Noun

ultimatum m (plural ultimatums)

1. ultimatum

Descendants

• → Turkish: ültimatom
• → Persian: اولتیماتوم (ultimâtom)

Further reading

• “ultimatum”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, borrowed from Dutch ultimatum, from Latin ultimatum, from ultimatus (“late, last final”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ultiˈmatum/ [ul.t̪iˈma.t̪ʊm]
• Rhymes: -atum
• Syllabification: ul‧ti‧ma‧tum

Noun

ultimatum (plural ultimatum-ultimatum)

1. ultimate (a final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another)

   Synonyms: (all Piawai Malay) kata dua, kemuktamadan

Related terms

• ultima
• ultimat

Further reading

• “ultimatum” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Verb

ultimātum

1. accusative supine of ultimō

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

ultimatum n (definite singular ultimatumet, indefinite plural ultimata or ultimatumer, definite plural ultimataene or ultimatumene)

1. an ultimatum

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

ultimatum n (definite singular ultimatumet, indefinite plural ultimatum, definite plural ultimatuma)

1. an ultimatum

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ultimātum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ul.tiˈma.tum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atum
• Syllabification: ul‧ti‧ma‧tum

Noun

ultimatum n

1. ultimatum

Declension

Declension of ultimatum

	singular	plural
nominative	ultimatum	ultimata
genitive	ultimatum	ultimatów
dative	ultimatum	ultimatom
accusative	ultimatum	ultimata
instrumental	ultimatum	ultimatami
locative	ultimatum	ultimatach
vocative	ultimatum	ultimata

Derived terms

adjective

• ultymatywny

Further reading

• ultimatum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ultimatum in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ultimatum.

Noun

ultimatum n (plural ultimatumuri)

1. ultimatum

Declension

Declension of ultimatum

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ultimatum	ultimatumul		ultimatumuri	ultimatumurile
genitive-dative	ultimatum	ultimatumului		ultimatumuri	ultimatumurilor
vocative	ultimatumule			ultimatumurilor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ultimǎːtum/
• Hyphenation: ul‧ti‧ma‧tum

Noun

ultimátum m (Cyrillic spelling ултима́тум)

1. ultimatum

Declension

Declension of ultimatum

	singular	plural
nominative	ultimatum	ultimatumi
genitive	ultimatuma	ultimatuma
dative	ultimatumu	ultimatumima
accusative	ultimatum	ultimatume
vocative	ultimatume	ultimatumi
locative	ultimatumu	ultimatumima
instrumental	ultimatumom	ultimatumima

Swedish

Noun

ultimatum n

1. an ultimatum

Declension

Declension of ultimatum

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	ultimatum	ultimatums
	definite	ultimatumet	ultimatumets
plural	indefinite	ultimatum	ultimatums
	definite	ultimatumen	ultimatumens

Related terms

• ultimat
• ultimativ

References

• ultimatum in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ultimatum in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ultimatum in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)