final

1 of 2

adjective

fi·​nal ˈfī-nᵊl How to pronounce final (audio)
1
a
: not to be altered or undone
all sales are final
b
: of or relating to a concluding court action or proceeding
final decree
2
: coming at the end : being the last in a series, process, or progress
the final chapter
final exams
3
: of or relating to the ultimate purpose or result of a process
our final goal
the final product

final

2 of 2

noun

: something that is final: such as
a
: a deciding match, game, heat, or trial
usually used in plural
b
: the last examination in a course
often used in plural
Choose the Right Synonym for final

last, final, terminal, ultimate mean following all others (as in time, order, or importance).

last applies to something that comes at the end of a series but does not always imply that the series is completed or stopped.

last page of a book
last news we had of him

final applies to that which definitely closes a series, process, or progress.

final day of school

terminal may indicate a limit of extension, growth, or development.

terminal phase of a disease

ultimate implies the last degree or stage of a long process beyond which further progress or change is impossible.

the ultimate collapse of the system

Examples of final in a Sentence

Adjective the final act of the play They won their final four games. in the final minutes of the game Our last stop was Bangkok, but our final destination is Tokyo. The plans are undergoing final review. What was the final score? The final product was not what we had expected. Noun He failed his history finals. He failed his history final.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
None of Huffman’s lines about Reddit’s mistakes or his concern over control made the final cut. Paresh Dave, WIRED, 18 Mar. 2024 If temperatures in Washington don’t dip to freezing this week, the freeze on Feb. 25 will probably mark the last and the earliest final freeze on record. Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024 In a rematch of the 2022 final – which Świątek clinched with a similarly imperious 6-4 6-1 win – the Pole narrowly edged a back-and-forth opening set, but the second was over in the blink of an eye. Matias Grez, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024 After upsetting Pac-12 regular-season champion Stanford in the conference tournament final to win their first conference title since 2014, the Trojans claimed their highest NCAA tournament seed since 1986, when Cheryl Miller led them to the national championship game as a senior. Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2024 The final amount of damages hasn’t been determined. Michael Liedtke, Fortune, 18 Mar. 2024 Sales growth is slowing in the current quarter compared to the final quarter of 2023, with companies already returning to price cuts and other incentives to keep growing. Lionel Lim, Fortune Asia, 18 Mar. 2024 Iga Swiatek of Poland meets Zendaya after defeating Maria Sakkari of Greece in the women’s singles final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 17, 2024. Hannah Coates, Glamour, 18 Mar. 2024 Stanford won the final Pac-12 regular season by two games over eventual No. 1 seed USC and fellow No. 2 UCLA, but lost in the Pac-12 tournament final to the Trojans. Harold Gutmann, The Mercury News, 17 Mar. 2024
Noun
The women’s March Madness finals take place at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. Tim Chan, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2024 The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest finals will take place on May 9, 11 and 13 at the Malmö Arena, Sweden. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Mar. 2024 The Aztecs have reached the Saturday final for 10 straight years and 14 of the last 15. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Mar. 2024 Clara Louise Zinke: The local tennis star reached 18 finals in the Cincinnati Open tournament in the 1920s, winning 12 titles for singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 10 Mar. 2024 Think of it: A Republican candidate needs the backdoor help of a Democrat to reach the November finals in a major statewide race. George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2024 Seniors are likely stressing over graduation and post-college career plans, while everyone is feeling the pressure of finals. Marina Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 5 Mar. 2024 Monterey has a top shooter in Ryan Roth, who had 23 points in the regional final. Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2024 Williams scored 21 points in the regional finals to help advance his team to state. Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'final.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English, "pertaining to an end or conclusion, effecting a close, ultimate, conclusive," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin fīnālis "last, at the end, ultimate," going back to Latin, "of boundaries," from fīnis "boundary, limit, terminal point, ending" (of uncertain origin) + -ālis -al entry 1

Note: According to an older hypothesis, fīnis goes back to *fig-sn-is, a derivative from the base of fīgere "to drive in, insert, fasten" (see fix entry 1), assuming that the word originally referred to some sort of boundary marker fixed to a tree or driven into the ground. A more recent suggestion sees fīnis going back to *bhiH-n-i, a derivative of an Indo-European verbal base *bhei̯H- "strike, break," seen also in an o-grade derivative *bhoi̯H-n-o-, whence Germanic *baina- "bone" and "straight" (in Old Norse beinn "straight"); (see bone entry 1); in this case fīnis would have referred originally to an upright branch or stake used to mark boundaries. Both hypotheses are in the end speculative, as the semantic prehistory of fīnis in Latin is unknown.

Noun

derivative of final entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

1609, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of final was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near final

Cite this Entry

“Final.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/final. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

final

1 of 2 adjective
fi·​nal ˈfīn-ᵊl How to pronounce final (audio)
1
: not to be changed or undone
my final offer
2
: relating to or occurring at the end or conclusion : ultimate
the final act of the play
finally adverb

final

2 of 2 noun
: something final: as
a
: the last match or game of a tournament
usually used in plural
b
: the last examination in a course
often used in plural
Etymology

Adjective

Middle English final "perfect, final, not to be changed," from early French final (same meaning), from Latin finalis "final, relating to the end" — related to define, finish, infinity

Legal Definition

final

adjective
fi·​nal
1
: ending a court action or proceeding leaving nothing further to be determined by the court or to be done except execution of the judgment but not precluding appeal
used of an order, decision, judgment, decree, determination, or sentence
see also finality, final judgment rule compare interlocutory
2
: being a decision that precludes the right to appeal or to continue a case in any other court upon the merits: as
a
: being a decision for which availability of appeal has been exhausted and concerning which a writ of certiorari has been denied or the time to petition for certiorari has expired
b
: being a decision of the Supreme Court of the U.S. that terminates the litigation between parties on the merits and leaves nothing for the lower court to do in case of an affirmance except to execute the judgment
3
: being the last in a series, process, or progress
a final payment

More from Merriam-Webster on final

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