last
- adjective
- /læst/
- She's probably exhausted after spending the last eight hours cleaning the house with her son's girlfriend.
- the last person
- a last-ditch effort
So I'm going to go buy some more because the last thing I need is a sunburn.
- So I'm going to go buy some more because the last thing I need is a sunburn.
Examples
-
For the moment, finding the man of her dreams was the last thing Paxton wanted.
Fiction book (1990) -
The last thing you want when you look back at your photos 50 years from now is to wonder, "What the hell was I thinking?"
-
The junior high years, especially, often provide the last opportunity to interest students in singing.
Academic text (1990) -
I'm healthy, and the last thing I need is to be hanging out with you.
-
Though this is the last sunset that I'm going to get out here.
-
Be flexible and be prepared to work out special last-minute arrangements with classroom teachers around performance time.
Academic text (1999) -
We may indeed, with propriety, be said to have reached almost the last stage of national humiliation.
Academic text (1993) -
We're Karen Nate and we've been travelling the world full time for the last four years.
-
Because GPUs aren't the only thing that's changed in the last two years.
-
The last person to leave the room turned off the lights.
Synonyms
Highest in rank, quality, or importance
Last and most extreme in a series
The highest possible amount or level
Of the highest degree or importance
Better than all others in quality or importance
The greatest possible in amount, degree, or size
At the highest possible level
The greatest possible amount or degree of something
Used to show that something is the most complete or extreme example
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Something a person is not thinking about or worrying about right now
- Informal
A person who thinks they are special and sometimes feels out of place
- Archaic
To keep trying until everything is finished no matter how long it takes
- Informal
To keep supporting something until the very end, no matter how long it takes
Compounds
- Literature
A final meal Jesus ate with his disciples before he was killed on a cross
- Formal
An act of saying goodbye to someone who has died, usually at their funeral
- Specialized
Half the Moon is lit when it comes after a full moon and before a new moon
- Literature
A final day when God decides each person's fate, rewarding good and punishing bad
An 1876 battle at Little Bighorn where Sioux and Cheyenne killed General Custer and his soldiers
- Specialized
An inventory method where the newest items are counted as sold first
- Specialized
A data structure like a stack where the newest item is removed first
A person who is arranged to care for children shortly before the care is needed
- Specialized
A solid foot-shaped form that people who make shoes use to shape or repair shoes
How Extreme
Surface Forms
Etymology
Last in phrases like 'to the last degree' comes from an old word læst meaning 'end', so it pictures the 'extreme end' of something and means the very highest or most extreme point.