umpteenth

9 6.5

Said when something has happened many times before, often too many times

adjective
/ˈʌmpˌtiːnθ/

Informal

: umpésima

Stephen, for the umpteenth time, Ted Rampion is not my pinup.
for the umpteenth time
umpteenth day
umpteenth year

So in the United States, for example, I've just read the umpteenth story about the fentanyl explosion.

Autoplay Next

Examples

And I am telling you for the umpteenth time, these drawings are wrong.

Cremaster 2 (1999)
Ol' Marlo has done it again and for the umpteenth time.

Sextette (1978)
Let me make it clear for the umpteenth time, no order.
Oh, my God, - for the umpteenth time... -

Stargate: Continuum (2008)
It's like the umpteenth time I've seen ya here.

Chasing Amy (1997)
And once again, for the umpteenth time, I wondered what Ula was thinking.

Fiction book (1995)
So, after playing around with my budgets for the umpteenth millionth time, I noticed something interesting.

Blog text (12)
And I'm breaking my hairdresser's appointment for the umpteenth time.

Fiction book (1998)
For the umpteenth time that day, Marguerite searched the drawer where she had put the pottery fragments.

Fiction book (1993)
I explained my plans for the umpteenth time, and she still didn't understand me.

Synonyms

nth

vsumpteenth

3 7.0

Of a very large or final number in a series

focuses on a final repeated occurrence rather than a broad unspecified position

zillionth

vsumpteenth

Informal

1 8.4

Happening very many times

stresses that something happened many times and may mark the final instance

umteenth

vsumpteenth

Informal

9.7

Describes something that has happened many times and annoys people

is more neutral emphasis and not necessarily exasperated

umptieth

vsumpteenth

Informal

9.9

Said to show something happened many times, often as an exaggeration

is used to stress many repetitions without joking or exaggeration

Antonyms

only

∞ 1.0

The single person or thing of its kind

Compounds

umpteenth time

Informal

7 7.3

A very large number of times that shows someone is annoyed

How Often

umpteenth

Informal

9 6.5

frequent

234 1.0

repeated

1.0

occasional

285 2.8

Surface Forms

umpteenth positive

Morphology

umpteenth = umpteen (transparent) = umpteen + th

The ordinal suffix '-th' is attached to the informal numeral 'umpteen' in a regular way, so a learner who knows 'umpteen' can readily infer 'umpteenth'.

Etymology

Umpteenth comes from the playful number umpteen, a joking word that means 'many' or 'a lot', plus the ending -th, the same ending in 'fourth'. So umpteenth is like saying 'the many-th time' and is used to show something has happened 'again and again'.