penultimate, adj.
![](https://womenandchildrenlast.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/OIP.jpg)
Penultimate, as civilized people learn in school, means “the next to last.”
Penultimate does not mean nor should it be allowed to mean “the most ultimate” or “the most awesome.”
The misuse of penultimate leads to atrocities like this headline from Science Direct, “Female genital mutilation: the penultimate gender abuse.”