: the next to the last member of a series
especially
: the second to last syllable of a word : penultima
Sam must have known Sophia Peabody Hawthorne. (Peabody. Was the accent on the first syllable or should you come down hard on the penult, too? …) —Jane Langton
Cite this Entry
“Penult.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penult. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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