Ul″ti‐mate (?), a. [LL. ultimatus last, extreme, fr. L. ultimare to come to an end, fr. ultimus the farthest, last, superl. from the same source as ulterior. See Ulterior, and cf. Ultimatum.] 1. Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last; final.
My harbor, and my ultimate repose. Milton.
Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive to this our ultimate happiness. Addison.
2. Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.
Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we can not rationally contradict. Coleridge.
3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter.
Ultimate analysis(Chem.), organic analysis. See under Organic. — Ultimate belief. See under Belief. — Ultimate ratio(Math.), the limiting value of a ratio, or that toward which a series tends, and which it does not pass.
Syn. — Final; conclusive. See Final.