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''ulterior'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260227164232-00-⌔

ulterior - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

ulterior (not comparable)

  • Situated beyond, or on the farther side.
    • ✤ Antonym: citerior
    • ✤ It[Spain] was divided by the Romans into two provinces, Citeriour and Ulteriour, nearer and farther, that is, from Rome.1
    • ✤ Both citerior and ulterior locations (and corresponding contact locations) are marked similarly. Complex prepositions with mua ‘front’ […] and tua ‘back’ […] can denote citerior and ulterior locations respectively, while tafa ‘side’ […] can denote either citerior or ulterior locations.2
  • Beyond what is obvious or evident.
    • ✤ Let a watch be contrived and constructed ever so ingeniously: be its parts ever so many, ever so complicated, ever so finely wrought, or artificially put together, it cannot go without a weight or spring, that is, without a force independent of, and ulteriour to, its mechanism.3
    • ✤ Other aestheticians have said that aesthetic contemplation is nothing more than sustained, concentrated attention to an object in which there is no ulterior purpose and the attention is an end in itself.4
    • ✤ The first questions in science are questions of fact, questions immediately answerable on the basis of observation. Beyond such questions are others, ulterior questions which are more interesting to us and which motivate the questions of fact.5
    • ✤ This notion of ‘ ulterior intent’ is the closest legal term to the concept of ‘motive’ as both share the character of hiddenness. In terms of a reason or motive for an action, you don’t hide something unless you really want (to do) something. So, if your reason or motive for an action is characterized or called as ‘ ulterior ’, it indicates that what you secretly want cannot be an ‘unwanted (or uninterested) but permitted side-effect’. Instead, it must be the ‘desired main effect’ of your ulterior motive or intent.6
  • Being intentionally concealed so as to deceive.
    • ✤ Antonym: ostensible
    • ✤ Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.7
  • (archaic) Happening later; subsequent.
    • ✤ Antonym: prior
    • ✤ Their noble and grand Mightineſſes have thereby not only ſatisfied the general wiſhes of the greateſt and beſt part of the inhabitants of this province, but they have laid the foundations of ulteriour alliances and correſpondencies of friendſhip and of good underſtanding with the United States of America, which promiſe new life to the languiſhing ſtate of our commerce, navigation, and manufactures.8
    • ✤ A rather deep red coloration, which appears by the action of the first bubbles of chlorine, but which soon disappears by the ulterior action of this gas: not turbid.9
    • ✤ He had taken himself to task more than once, and had promised himself that he would not become a sporting parson. Indeed, where would be his hopes of ulterior promotion, if he allowed himself to degenerate so far as that?10

Etymology

From Latin ulterior (“further, more distant”), from ulter (“that is beyond”) + -ior (“more”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ʌlˈtɪə.ɹɪə/
  • (General American) IPA: /ʌlˈtɪɚ.i.ɚ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪəɹiə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: ul‧te‧ri‧or
  • Audio (Australian): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1827, William C[hanning] Woodbridge, Emma Willard, “Hispania or Spain”, in Universal Geography, Ancient and Modern; on the Principles of Comparison and Classification, 2nd edition, Hartford, Conn.: Published by Oliver D. Cooke & Co. J. & J. Harper, printers, →OCLC, page 23: ↩

  2. 2000, Niko Besnier, “Morphology”, in Tuvaluan: A Polynesian Language of the Central Pacific (Descriptive Grammars), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 347: ↩

  3. 1810, William Paley, G[eorge] W[ilson] Meadley, “Of the Personality of the Deity”, in The Works of William Paley, D.D. in Five Volumes. With a Memoir of His Life, by G. W. Meadley, volume I (Containing Natural Theology), Boston, Mass.: Printed and published by Joshua Belcher, →OCLC, page 285: ↩

  4. 1975, Peter H[ewitt] Hare, Edward H[enry] Madden, “Aesthetics”, in Causing, Perceiving and Believing: An Examination of the Philosophy of C. J. Ducasse (Philosophical Studies Series in Philosophy; 6), Dordrecht; Boston, Mass.: D. Reidel Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 130: ↩

  5. 2012, Alexander Broadie, Agreeable Connexions: Scottish Enlightenment Links with France, Edinburgh: John Donald, →ISBN: ↩

  6. 2016, Sangkul Kim, “Rethinking the Knowledge-Based Approach (II): A Purpose-based Theory of Individualistic Genocidal Intent”, in A Collective Theory of Genocidal Intent (International Criminal Justice Series; 7), The Hague: T. M. C. Asser Press, →ISBN, page 67: ↩

  7. 1960, Richard Stanley Peters, “Motives and Motivation”, in The Concept of Motivation (Studies in Philosophical Psychology), 2nd edition, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; New York, N.Y.: Humanities Press, →OCLC, page 32: ↩

  8. 1782, “an American” [pseudonym], “Amsterdam. Address of the Merchants, &c. to Their Regency.”, in A Collection of State-papers, Relative to the First Acknowledgment of the Sovereignty of the United States of America, and the Reception of Their Minister Plenipotentiary, by Their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands, London: Printed for John Fielding, No. 23, Pater-noster-row; John Debrett, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly; and John Sewell, No. 32, Cornhill, page 60: ↩

  9. 1840, M. Lepage, “On the Means of Distinguishing Vegetable Alkalies by Chlorine, and by the Sulpho-cynanide of Potassium”, in Charles Watt, John Watt, Jun., editors, The Chemist; or Reporter of Chemical Discoveries and Improvements, and Protector of the Rights of the Chemist and Chemical Manufacturer, volume I, London: Printed for the proprietors, and sold by R. Hastings, 13, Carey Street, →OCLC, page 141: ↩

  10. 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage: ↩

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