Saturday, April 16, 2011

A Public Service Announcement. . .

I frequently see and hear this word misused. Normally, I could overlook it and substitute the word that was actually intended based on context, but then I heard Christ described as such. So here we go, brought to you by the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Penultimate:

Main Entry: pen·ul·ti·mate
Pronunciation: \pi-ˈnəl-tə-mət\
Function: adjective
Date: 1677
1 : next to the last
2 : of or relating to a penult
— pen·ul·ti·mate·ly adverb

2 comments:

GretchenJoanna said...

Thanks, Svetlana! I've heard the word, but I guess I never knew it well enough to use it. Now I think I didn't know it at all until you came along to help.

Mimi said...

Yep, that one makes me cringe too. We (as a society) tend to make it equal to zenith, not nadir.