the.com/utmost
The ceiling of effort or degree — beyond it, there's just exaggeration.
means The greatest or furthest degree possible — the absolute limit of something, especially effort or importance.
from Built from Old English ūtmest, itself a superlative of ūt ('out'), so it literally means 'outmost' — the farthest-out point. The 'ut-' is the same root as 'out,' and the '-most' ending is the same superlative suffix found in 'foremost' and 'innermost.' Over time the spelling smoothed from 'outmost' into 'utmost,' but the sense never moved: it still marks the far edge beyond which there's nowhere left to go.
- origin
- from old english utmest, literally outmost
- grammar trap
- adjective or noun, never a verb
- common phrase
- do your utmost implies you might not
- synonym creep
- often confused with upmost, which is wrong