utmost
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English ūtemest, from Proto-Germanic *ūt (“out”) + the superlative suffix *-umistaz, stem ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“upwards, away”). The suffix *-umistaz was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix *-umô (as in Old English fruma) + the regular superlative suffix *-istaz (English -est); *-umô in turn is from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *-mHo-.
Later the Old English suffix complex -(u)m-est was conflated with the word most through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted as out + -most.
Pronunciation
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Audio (US): (file)
Adjective
utmost (not comparable)
- Situated at the most distant limit; farthest.
- (Can we date this quote by Evelyn and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- We coasted within two leagues of Antibes, which is the utmost town in France.
- (Can we date this quote by Herbert and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Betwixt two thieves I spend my utmost breath.
- the utmost limits of the land; the utmost extent of human knowledge
- (Can we date this quote by Evelyn and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The most extreme; ultimate; greatest.
- c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- Where he shall answer by a lawful form, In peace to his utmost peril.
- 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.
- Indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.
- the utmost assiduity; the utmost harmony; the utmost misery or happiness
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Situated at the most distant limit
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The most extreme, ultimate
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Noun
utmost (countable and uncountable, plural utmosts)
- Maximum; greatest possible amount or quantity.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess[1]:
- Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
Translations
maximum
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Categories:
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms suffixed with -most
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
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