ultimate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Being last in a series, process, or progression: synonym: last.
• adjective Eventual.
• adjective Fundamental; elemental.
• adjective Of the greatest possible size or significance; maximum.
• adjective Representing or exhibiting the greatest possible development or sophistication.
• adjective Utmost; extreme.
• noun The greatest extreme; the maximum.

from The Century Dictionary.

• In meck., final; ‘breaking'; specifically, noting the strain required to “break a piece of material.
• To result finally; end.
• Furthest; most remote in place.
• Last; the last of a series of three or more members, especially of a series in which an inquiry is traced from one member to another: as, the ultimate signification of a phrase; an ultimate principle; an ultimate fact.
• In entomology, specifically noting a stage of the second larva, after the third molt, of those insects which undergo hypermetamorphosis, as the blister-beetles (Meloidæ), It succeeds the scarabæidoid stage, and is followed by the coarctate larva.
• Synonyms Eventual, Conclusive, etc. See final.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• verb rare To come or bring to an end or issue; to eventuate; to end.
• verb rare To come or bring into use or practice.
• adjective Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last; final.
• adjective Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.
• adjective Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental.
• adjective (Chem.) organic analysis. See under Organic.
• adjective See under Belief.
• adjective (Math.) the limiting value of a ratio, or that toward which a series tends, and which it does not pass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Concerning the last or final thing in a series.
• adjective Last in a word or other utterance.
• adjective Being the greatest possible; maximum; most extreme.
• adjective Being the most distant or extreme; farthest.
• adjective That will happen sometime; eventual.
• noun The most basic or fundamental of a set of things
• noun The final or most distant point; the conclusion
• noun The greatest extremity; the maximum

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme
• adjective being the last or concluding element of a series
• noun the finest or most superior quality of its kind