Ultimate \Ul"ti*mate\, a. [LL. ultimatus last, extreme, fr. L. ultimare to come to an end, fr. ultimus the farthest, last, superl. from the same source as ulterior. See Ulterior, and cf. Ultimatum.]

1. Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last; final. [1913 Webster]

My harbor, and my ultimate repose. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive to this our ultimate happiness. --Addison. [1913 Webster]

2. Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final. [1913 Webster]

Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we can not rationally contradict. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]

3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter. [1913 Webster]

Ultimate analysis (Chem.), organic analysis. See under Organic.

Ultimate belief. See under Belief.

Ultimate ratio (Math.), the limiting value of a ratio, or that toward which a series tends, and which it does not pass. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Final; conclusive. See Final. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Belief \Be*lief"\, n. [OE. bileafe, bileve; cf. AS. gele['a]fa. See Believe.]

1. Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. [1913 Webster]

Belief admits of all degrees, from the slightest suspicion to the fullest assurance. --Reid. [1913 Webster]

2. (Theol.) A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith. [1913 Webster]

No man can attain [to] belief by the bare contemplation of heaven and earth. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]

3. The thing believed; the object of belief. [1913 Webster]

Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any class of views; doctrine; creed. [1913 Webster]

In the heat of persecution to which Christian belief was subject upon its first promulgation. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]

Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. --Sir W. Hamilton. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Credence; trust; reliance; assurance; opinion. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Ultimate \Ul"ti*mate\, a. [LL. ultimatus last, extreme, fr. L. ultimare to come to an end, fr. ultimus the farthest, last, superl. from the same source as ulterior. See Ulterior, and cf. Ultimatum.]

1. Farthest; most remote in space or time; extreme; last; final.

My harbor, and my ultimate repose. --Milton.

Many actions apt to procure fame are not conductive to this our ultimate happiness. --Addison.

2. Last in a train of progression or consequences; tended toward by all that precedes; arrived at, as the last result; final.

Those ultimate truths and those universal laws of thought which we can not rationally contradict. --Coleridge.

3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an ultimate constituent of matter.

Ultimate analysis (Chem.), organic analysis. See under Organic.

Ultimate belief. See under Belief.

Ultimate ratio (Math.), the limiting value of a ratio, or that toward which a series tends, and which it does not pass.

Syn: Final; conclusive. See Final.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Belief \Be*lief"\, n. [OE. bileafe, bileve; cf. AS. gele['a]fa. See Believe.]

1. Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses.

Belief admits of all degrees, from the slightest suspicion to the fullest assurance. --Reid.

2. (Theol.) A persuasion of the truths of religion; faith.

No man can attain [to] belief by the bare contemplation of heaven and earth. --Hooker.

3. The thing believed; the object of belief.

Superstitious prophecies are not only the belief of fools, but the talk sometimes of wise men. --Bacon.

4. A tenet, or the body of tenets, held by the advocates of any class of views; doctrine; creed.

In the heat of persecution to which Christian belief was subject upon its first promulgation. --Hooker.

Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. --Sir W. Hamilton.

Syn: Credence; trust; reliance; assurance; opinion.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)