Word.ws English Dictionary

dernier

Syllables: der·nierUK/ˈdɜːnjeɪ//ˈdɜɹnjeɪ/

dernier adjective: final, last.

Adjective

dernier (not comparable)

  1. (dated) Final, last.
    • Then as I'm a Chriſtian, I ſuſpect we have both been equally involv'd in the misfortune of a Miſtake. Sir, I am in the dernier Confuſion to avow, that tho my Daughter Conſtantia has been liable to ſeveral Addreſſes; yet ſhe never has had the Honour to be produc'd to his Grace.1617, [John Fletcher]; George, Duke of Buckingham [i.e., George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham], “The Chances: A Comedy; as It is Acted at the Theatre-Royal. By His Grace the Duke of Buckingham...
    • That thoſe laws of Ed[ward] 3 for Annual Parliaments are pro bono publico [for the public good], and of the greateſt concern to the Nation, beſides they are made concerning the higheſt Court of Judicature, of the Dernier Reſort, and which regulates and keeps all the reſt in order, needs not a proof...1676, author uncertain; attributed to Nicholas Carey or Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, Some Considerations upon the Question, whether the Parliament is Dissolved by It’s Prorogation for 15 Months?...

Origin of dernier

Borrowed from French dernier, a contraction of derrenier, from Old French derrain (“final, last”) (by analogy with premier), from Vulgar Latin *dēretrānus, from Latin dē (“from, away from”) + retrō (“back; backwards; behind”) + -ānus (“of or pertaining to”).

Questions about dernier

What does dernier mean?
Dernier means final, last.
What part of speech is dernier?
Dernier is an adjective.
How do you pronounce dernier?
Dernier is pronounced /ˈdɜːnjeɪ/ (UK).

Words near dernier in the dictionary

  1. Dernah
  2. derne
  3. derned
  4. Derner
  5. dernful
  6. dernier
  7. dernier cri
  8. derniers cris
  9. dernies
  10. derning
  11. dernly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dernier (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-dernier.flac.

Cite this entry: “dernier.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dernier. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.