Definition of "penult" []

• The next to the last item in a series. (noun)
• The next to the last syllable in a word. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If the penult is short, the antepenult is accented provided it be long: Sansthā́naka."
• "Noel Coward was partial to this, forever rhyming on the ante-penult."
• "The scientists made the measured cautious statement on page 1294 col 2 penult para of their paper “Thus, proxy-derived series suggest that twentieth century warming is unique in the last millennium for both its mean value and probably for its rapidity of change.”"