NOUN (1)

1. the finest or most superior quality of its kind;
- Example: "the ultimate in luxury"


ADJECTIVE (2)

1. furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme;
- Example: "the ultimate achievement"
- Example: "the ultimate question"
- Example: "man's ultimate destiny"
- Example: "the ultimate insult"
- Example: "one's ultimate goal in life"

2. being the last or concluding element of a series;
- Example: "the ultimate sonata of that opus"
- Example: "a distinction between the verb and noun senses of `conflict' is that in the verb the stress is on the ultimate (or last) syllable"

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ultimate \Ul"ti*mate\, a. [LL. ultimatus last, extreme, fr. L.
   ultimare to come to an end, fr. ultimus the farthest, last,
   superl. from the same source as ulterior. See Ulterior, and
   cf. Ultimatum.]
   1. Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last;
      final.
      [1913 Webster]

            My harbor, and my ultimate repose.    --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive
            to this our ultimate happiness.       --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended
      toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last
      result; final.
      [1913 Webster]

            Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of
            thought which we can not rationally contradict.
                                                  --Coleridge.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further
      division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an
      ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter.
      [1913 Webster]

   Ultimate analysis (Chem.), organic analysis. See under
      Organic.

   Ultimate belief. See under Belief.

   Ultimate ratio (Math.), the limiting value of a ratio, or
      that toward which a series tends, and which it does not
      pass.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Final; conclusive. See Final.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ultimate \Ul"ti*mate\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Ultimated; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Ultimating.]
   1. To come or bring to an end or issue; to eventuate; to end.
      [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To come or bring into use or practice. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Analysis \A*nal"y*sis\, n.; pl. Analyses. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to
   unloose, to dissolve, to resolve into its elements; ? up + ?
   to loose. See Loose.]
   1. A resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses
      or of the intellect, into its constituent or original
      elements; an examination of the component parts of a
      subject, each separately, as the words which compose a
      sentence, the tones of a tune, or the simple propositions
      which enter into an argument. It is opposed to
      synthesis.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Chem.) The separation of a compound substance, by
      chemical processes, into its constituents, with a view to
      ascertain either (a) what elements it contains, or (b) how
      much of each element is present. The former is called
      qualitative, and the latter quantitative analysis.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Logic) The tracing of things to their source, and the
      resolving of knowledge into its original principles.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Math.) The resolving of problems by reducing the
      conditions that are in them to equations.
      [1913 Webster]

   5.
      (a) A syllabus, or table of the principal heads of a
          discourse, disposed in their natural order.
      (b) A brief, methodical illustration of the principles of
          a science. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with
          synopsis.
          [1913 Webster]

   6. (Nat. Hist.) The process of ascertaining the name of a
      species, or its place in a system of classification, by
      means of an analytical table or key.
      [1913 Webster]

   Ultimate, Proximate, Qualitative, Quantitative, and
   Volumetric analysis. (Chem.) See under Ultimate,
      Proximate, Qualitative, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ultimate
    adj 1: furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or
           extreme; "the ultimate achievement"; "the ultimate
           question"; "man's ultimate destiny"; "the ultimate
           insult"; "one's ultimate goal in life" [ant: proximate]
    2: being the last or concluding element of a series; "the
       ultimate sonata of that opus"; "a distinction between the
       verb and noun senses of `conflict' is that in the verb the
       stress is on the ultimate (or last) syllable"
    n 1: the finest or most superior quality of its kind; "the
         ultimate in luxury"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

164 Moby Thesaurus words for "ultimate":
   absolute, acmatic, acme, acme of perfection, apical, apotheosis,
   approaching, basic, binding, boundary, capital, categorical,
   caudal, chief, climax, closing, collateral, coming, complete,
   completing, completive, completory, compulsory, conclude,
   concluding, conclusive, consummate, consummation, consummative,
   contingent, crowning, culminating, culmination, deciding, decisive,
   decretory, definitive, desired, destinal, destined, determinative,
   determine, determined, dictated, elemental, emergent, empyreal,
   empyrean, end, endmost, entailed, epitome, essential, eventual,
   exalted, extrapolated, extreme, farthermost, farthest,
   farthest off, fatal, fated, fatidic, final, finalizing, finish,
   finishing, forthcoming, fulfilling, fundamental, furthermost,
   furthest, future, futuristic, grand, greatest, hard-and-fast, head,
   headmost, height, hereafter, highest, highest pitch, hindmost,
   hoped-for, imminent, imperative, imposed, incomparable, indirect,
   irrevocable, lag, last, last word, later, latest, latter, limiting,
   lofty, mandated, mandatory, maximal, maximum, meridian, meridional,
   most distant, must, ne plus ultra, nearing, obligatory, overmost,
   paramount, peak, peremptory, perfection, pink, pink of perfection,
   pinnacle, planned, plotted, polar, predicted, preeminent,
   prescript, prescriptive, primary, probable, projected, prophesied,
   prospective, quintessence, remotest, required, secondary, sublime,
   summit, summital, supreme, surpassing, tail, terminal, terminate,
   terminating, terminative, tip-top, to come, to-be, top, topmost,
   towering, transcendent, transcendental, underlying, unmatchable,
   unsurpassable, upmost, uppermost, utmost, uttermost, vertical,
   wind up, without appeal, wrap up, zenithal