All 3 Uses of
ultimate
in
As I Lay Dying
- He is looking down at her peaceful, rigid face fading into the dusk as though darkness were a precursor of the ultimate earth, until at last the face seems to float detached upon it, lightly as the reflection of a dead leaf.†
Chpt 12ultimate = most extreme as in final, best, worst, most important, or most fundamental
- Pa lifts his face, slackmouthed, the wet black rim of snuff plastered close along the base of his gums; from behind his slack-faced astonishment he 'muses as though from beyond time, upon the ultimate outrage.†
Chpt 17 *
- Cash's face is also gravely composed; he and I look at one another with long probing looks, looks that plunge unimpeded through one another's eyes and into the ultimate secret place where for an instant Cash and Darl crouch flagrant and unabashed in all the old terror and the old foreboding, alert and secret and without shame.†
Chpt 34
Definition:
most extreme as in final, best, worst, most important, or most fundamental
The exact meaning of ultimate depends upon its context. For example:
- "the ultimate decision-maker" -- the final
- "the ultimate car" -- the best
- "the ultimate insult" -- the worst
- "the ultimate source" -- original or most fundamental
- "the ultimate sacrifice" -- most extreme