penultimatum
penultimatum noun: a statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another, commonly expressed as an ultimatum in the hopes of compelling immediate compliance with demands, but that then is superseded by more negotiation instead of actual dire consequences.
Noun
penultimatum (plural penultimatums or penultimata)
- A statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another, commonly expressed as an ultimatum in the hopes of compelling immediate compliance with demands, but that then is superseded by more negotiation instead of actual dire consequences.
- To what point of degradation ministers can yet sink, I cannot guess. Far be it from me to limit their genius for the bathos of diplomacy. It is said, however, in some of their papers, that they have sent final instructions. I fear they are like a set of strolling players: "The last night," —...1796 French Laurence in correspondence with Edmund Burke
Forms of penultimatum
| plural | penultimatums |
|---|---|
| plural | penultimata |
Origin of penultimatum
Blend of penultimate + ultimatum, equivalent to pene- + ultimatum.
Words formed from penultimatum
Questions about penultimatum
- What does penultimatum mean?
- Penultimatum means a statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another, commonly expressed as an ultimatum in the hopes of compelling immediate compliance with demands, but that then is superseded by more negotiation instead of actual dire consequences.
- What part of speech is penultimatum?
- Penultimatum is a noun.
- What is the plural of penultimatum?
- The plural of penultimatum is penultimatums.
Words near penultimatum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: penultimatum (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.
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