ul·ti·mate·ly

(ŭl′tə-mĭt-lē)

adv.

At last; in the end; eventually.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ultimately

(ˈʌltɪmɪtlɪ)

adv

in the end; at last; finally

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ultimately

– lately

1. 'ultimately'

You use ultimately to indicate that something is the final result of a series of events.

The discovery may ultimately lead to the development of new contraceptives.

The rebels hoped to create bad feeling and ultimately war between Spain and the United States.

You also use ultimately when you are drawing attention to a basic fact about a situation.

Ultimately, the problems are not scientific but moral.

It is ultimately the fault of the universities.

2. 'lately'

You do not use ultimately to say that something has been happening since a short time ago. You do not say, for example, 'Ultimately I have been feeling rather unwell'. You say 'I have been feeling rather unwell lately'.

See recently - newly - lately

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

ultimately - as the end result of a succession or process; "ultimately he had to give in"; "at long last the winter was over"

at last, at long last, finally, in the end

ultimately

adverb

1. finally, eventually, in the end, after all, at last, at the end of the day, sooner or later, in the fullness of time, in due time a tough but ultimately worthwhile struggle

2. fundamentally, essentially, basically, primarily, at heart, deep down Ultimately, Bismarck's revisionism scarcely affected British interests.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

ultimately

adverb

After a considerable length of time, usually after a delay:

finally.

Idioms: at last, at long last, in the end.

Translations

في النّهايَه، أخيرانِهَائِيّاً

konečněnakonec

i sidste ende

kürzlich letzten Endes letztendlich letztlich schließlich

τελικά

al final en última instancia finalmente

aikaennen kaikkealopuksipohjimmiltaanviime

ultimement au bout du compte finalement

na kraju

endanlega, aî lokum

alla fine definitivamente infine

最終的に

결국

slutligen

ท้ายที่สุด

eninde sonunda son

cuối cùng thì

最后最终地

ultimately

[ˈʌltɪmɪtlɪ] ADV (= eventually) → al final, finalmente; (= in the end) → en última instancia; (= in the long run) → a la larga; (= fundamentally) → en el fondo
they were ultimately responsible for his death → eran responsables en última instancia de su muerte
the more difficult, but ultimately more satisfying, solution → la solución más difícil, pero a la larga la más satisfactoria
we provide this sort of service because, ultimately, that's what people want → facilitamos esta clase de servicio porque, en el fondo, eso es lo que la gente quiere

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ultimately

[ˈʌltɪmətli] adv

(= in the end) → au bout du compte
The struggle will ultimately succeed → Le combat finira par aboutir., Le combat aboutira au bout du compte.
Elections might ultimately produce a Communist victory
BUT Les élections pourraient se solder par une victoire des communistes.

(= basically) → au bout du compte
Ultimately, it's your decision → Au bout du compte, c'est votre décision.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ultimately

adv (= in the end) → letztlich, letzten Endes; (= eventually) → schließlich; (= fundamentally) → im Grunde genommen, letztlich; it’s ultimately your decision → letztlich müssen Sie das entscheiden

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ultimately

[ˈʌltɪmɪtlɪ] adv (in the end, eventually) → in fin dei conti, in definitiva; (in the last analysis) → in ultima analisi; (at last) → alla fine
to be ultimately responsible for sth → dover rispondere per primi di qc

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

ultimate

(ˈaltimət) adjective

last or final.

ˈultimately adverb

in the end. We hope ultimately to be able to buy a house of our own.

ultimately

→ نِهَائِيّاً nakonec i sidste ende letztlich τελικά en última instancia pohjimmiltaan au bout du compte na kraju infine 最終的に 결국 uiteindelijk til sist ostatecznie no final das contas в конце концов slutligen ท้ายที่สุด eninde sonunda cuối cùng thì 最后

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Nevertheless, all hope is not shut out, even from the Isosceles, that his posterity may ultimately rise above his degraded condition.

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Is it too much to hope that some democratic "Bert" may not ultimately get even with his Highness?

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There seems some ground to imagine that the great Kraken of Bishop Pontoppodan may ultimately resolve itself into Squid.

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The fact of the matter is, I thought, with Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, that the best plan would be to tell my story in a plain, straightforward manner, and to leave these matters to be dealt with subsequently in whatever way ultimately may appear to be desirable.

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When he ultimately got past my defence, with a jumpy one which broke awkwardly from the off, I had fetched twenty-three so that he needed twenty to win, a longer hand than he had ever yet made.

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Ultimately, returning to this country, he was thrown into jail for debt, and there perished miserably, as such high spirits generally do.

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Nevertheless, it is conceivable that the general pattern of an organ might become so much obscured as to be finally lost, by the atrophy and ultimately by the complete abortion of certain parts, by the soldering together of other parts, and by the doubling or multiplication of others,--variations which we know to be within the limits of possibility.

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Nietzsche at length realised that the friend of his fancy and the real Richard Wagner-- the composer of Parsifal--were not one; the fact dawned upon him slowly; disappointment upon disappointment, revelation after revelation, ultimately brought it home to him, and though his best instincts were naturally opposed to it at first, the revulsion of feeling at last became too strong to be ignored, and Nietzsche was plunged into the blackest despair.

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Bodily sensations can be brought into a correlation by physiology, and thus take their place ultimately among sources of knowledge of the physical world.

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Then there was a dispute about who saw the dead boys last in life, and many claimed that dismal dis- tinction, and offered evidences, more or less tampered with by the witness; and when it was ultimately decided who DID see the departed last, and exchanged the last words with them, the lucky parties took upon them- selves a sort of sacred importance, and were gaped at and envied by all the rest.

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And although he was twice routed by the Carthaginians, and ultimately besieged, yet not only was he able to defend his city, but leaving part of his men for its defence, with the others he attacked Africa, and in a short time raised the siege of Syracuse.

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Ultimately they brought us up with the jibboom of a Dutch brig poking through our spanker - nothing worse.

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