ultimatum
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: diplomacy
government
politics
Etymology: From Latin ultimatus (“late, last final”), from Latin ultimus (“extreme, last, furthest, farthest, final”).
Inflected forms:
form: ultimatums
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ultimata
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another, especially one that expresses a threat of reprisal or war if the terms are not met before some specified date and time.
pos: noun
examples: . . . But he was directed to present a memorial, urging many reasons for the restitution of the captures made before the war, to represent in its full force, the benefit that would arise, both to France and England, from the total desertion of the war in Germany, and if England should refuse the conditions, now offered as an ultimatum, to wait for farther instructions.
The ultimatum arrived in London August 8. M. Buffy soon after wrote to Mr. Pitt, and in his answer, dated August 15, says, that, as to the stile of the ultimatum and letter, the king his master adheres both to the form and substance of them, he laments that peace appears by the proposals and conduct of France to be far distant, and retorts some charges and elusion and delay.
M. Buffy, and Mr. Pitt however, had a conference on the two ultimatums jointly, and on the 30th of August an answer to the French ultimatum was delivered, in which the French propositions are agreed to, except in the following particulars. . .
1913 U.S. Naval War College: International Law Topics and Discussions
An ultimatum may be issued containing a demand for satisfaction. Such an ultimatum is usually formulated in diplomatic terms, which would not make it too difficult for the state to which it is dispatched to find a way to adjust the difficulties. The ultimatum usually fixes the time within which an answer must be made. The United States required that Spain reply to its demand for withdrawal of Spanish forces from Cuba within three days; i. e., by April 23. War was declared on April 25. An ultimatum in itself does not necessarily involve a declaration of war unless the failure to comply with the demands carries with it a conditional declaration of war.
The British demands upon Venezuela in 1902 required an immediate satisfaction of certain claims, and concluded: “ This communication must be regarded in the light of ultimatum.” The failure of Venezuela to satisfy these claims did not lead to an immediate war, but to an attempt to establish a pacific blockade which subsequently took the form of a true blockade.
Whatever the preliminary negotiations or evidences of strained relations which might have received consideration prior to 1907, among those states now parties to the convention relative to the opening of hostilities, it is now necessary that there be a previous and explicit warning.
This previous and explicit warning may take the form of a reasoned declaration of war or of an ultimatum with a conditional declaration of war.
The reasoned declaration of war was regarded by many as necessary or at least very desirable because the opposing belligerent should be given a formal statement of the grounds of the war and the neutrals should not suffer such great changes in their ordinary rights and obligations without knowledge of the reasons.
If instead of the reasoned declaration of war, the ultimatum with conditional declaration was employed, the reasons for the breaking off of peaceful relations would be stated in the ultimatum.
gloss: An intended final statement of terms or conditions made by one party to another in a negotiation.
pos: noun
tags: dated
examples: 1724 William Wynne: The Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the High-Court of Admiralty
. . . Thirdly, That they, the Dutch, 5 or 6 Weeks after they had received these Letters, (of 12th of July) call'd for an Ultimatum, so they termed the dernier mot, from us; and that we gave our Ultimatum to the Mediators first by Word of Mouth in August, then on the 5th of September, N. S. in writing.
Related words: ulterior
ultimate
ultra
ultra-
dernier mot
Ultimatum in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Derived words: antepenultimatum
penultimatum
ultimative
ultimatum game
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: بِلَاغ نِهَائِيّ
roman: bilāḡ nihāʔiyy
lang: Armenian
word: վերջնագիր
roman: verǰnagir
lang: Basque
word: ultimatum
lang: Belarusian
word: ультыма́тум
roman: ulʹtymátum
lang: Bulgarian
word: ултима́тум
roman: ultimátum
lang: Catalan
word: ultimàtum
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 最後通牒 /最后通牒
roman: zuìhòu tōngdié
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 哀的美敦書 /哀的美敦书
roman: āidìměidūn shū
lang: Czech
word: ultimátum
lang: Danish
word: ultimatum
lang: Dutch
word: ultimatum
lang: Esperanto
word: ultimato
lang: Esperanto
word: ultimatumo
lang: Estonian
word: ultimaatum
lang: Finnish
word: uhkavaatimus
lang: Finnish
word: ultimaatumi
lang: French
word: ultimatum
lang: Galician
word: ultimato
lang: Georgian
word: ულტიმატუმი
roman: ulṭimaṭumi
lang: German
word: Ultimatum
lang: Greek
word: τελεσίγραφο
roman: telesígrafo
lang: Hebrew
word: אוּלְטִימָטוּם
lang: Hindi
word: अल्टिमेटम
roman: alṭimeṭam
lang: Hindi
word: अंतिमेत्थम्
roman: antimettham
lang: Hungarian
word: ultimátum
lang: Icelandic
word: úrslitakostir
lang: Indonesian
word: ultimatum
lang: Italian
word: ultimatum
lang: Japanese
word: 最後通牒
roman: saigo tsūchō
lang: Japanese
word: 最後通告
roman: saigo tsūkoku
lang: Kazakh
word: ультиматум
roman: ultimatum
lang: Kazakh
word: кескен серт
roman: kesken sert
lang: Kazakh
word: үзілді-кесілді талап
roman: üzıldı-kesıldı talap
lang: Korean
word: 최후통첩
roman: choehutongcheop
lang: Latvian
word: ultimāts
lang: Lithuanian
word: ultimatumas
lang: Macedonian
word: ултима́тум
roman: ultimátum
lang: Malay
word: kata dua
lang: Malay
word: kemuktamadan
lang: Malayalam
word: അന്ത്യശാസനം
roman: antyaśāsanaṁ
lang: Nepali
word: अल्टिमेटम
roman: alṭimeṭam
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: ultimatum
lang: Persian
word: اولتیماتوم
roman: ultimâtom
lang: Persian
word: اتمامحجت
roman: etmâm-e-hojjat
lang: Polish
word: ultimatum
lang: Portuguese
word: ultimato
lang: Romanian
word: ultimatum
lang: Russian
word: ультима́тум
roman: ulʹtimátum
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ултима́тум
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ultimátum
lang: Slovak
word: ultimátum
lang: Slovene
word: ultimat
lang: Spanish
word: ultimátum
lang: Spanish
word: ultimato
lang: Swedish
word: ultimatum
lang: Tajik
word: ултиматум
roman: ultimatum
lang: Thai
word: คำขาด
roman: kam-kàat
lang: Thai
word: คำสั่งสุดท้าย
roman: kam-sàng-sùt-táai
lang: Turkish
word: ültimatom
lang: Ukrainian
word: ультима́тум
roman: ulʹtymátum
lang: Vietnamese
word: tối hậu thư