| Library / English Dictionary |
UTMOST
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The greatest possible degree
Example:
he tried his utmost
Synonyms:
level best; maximum; utmost; uttermost
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("utmost" is a kind of...):
bound; boundary; limit (the greatest possible degree of something)
Derivation:
utmost (highest in extent or degree)
utmost (of the greatest possible degree or extent or intensity)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(comparatives of 'far') most remote in space or time or order
Example:
the utmost tip of the peninsula
Synonyms:
farthermost; farthest; furthermost; furthest; utmost; uttermost
Classified under:
Similar:
far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)
Domain usage:
comparative; comparative degree (the comparative form of an adjective or adverb)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Highest in extent or degree
Example:
whether they were accomplices in the last degree or a lesser one was...to be determined individually
Synonyms:
last; utmost
Classified under:
Similar:
high (greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount)
Derivation:
utmost (the greatest possible degree)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of the greatest possible degree or extent or intensity
Example:
in the uttermost distress
Synonyms:
extreme; utmost; uttermost
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Derivation:
utmost (the greatest possible degree)
Context examples:
His behaviour was attentive and kind to the utmost.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
The Cabinet awaits your final report with the utmost anxiety.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But here it was with the utmost difficulty that I brought him to apprehend what I meant.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I wished to see him again, that I might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the deaths of William and Justine.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
In him some vital principle have in strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and thrive, so his brain grow too.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“So I see,” the other answered with the utmost coolness.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was a task requiring the utmost nicety and precision, and I could not but admire the way he tempered his strength to the fineness and delicacy of the need.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
On one other question which perhaps her utmost wisdom might not have prevented, she was soon spared all suspense; for, after the Miss Musgroves had returned and finished their visit at the Cottage she had this spontaneous information from Mary:—Captain Wentworth is not very gallant by you, Anne, though he was so attentive to me.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
She ran frantically, hysterically, straining to the utmost, advertising the effort she was making with every leap: and all the time White Fang slid smoothly away from her silently, without effort, gliding like a ghost over the ground.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The hot weather made him indolent, and he had shirked his studies, tried Mr. Brooke's patience to the utmost, displeased his grandfather by practicing half the afternoon, frightened the maidservants half out of their wits by mischievously hinting that one of his dogs was going mad, and, after high words with the stableman about some fancied neglect of his horse, he had flung himself into his hammock to fume over the stupidity of the world in general, till the peace of the lovely day quieted him in spite of himself.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
