adv · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:lästʹlē
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈlɑːstli/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:lăstʹlē
General-American:/ˈlæstli/
rhymes with (Received Pronunciation) -ɑːstli
rhymes with (General American) -æstli
CMU ARPABET:L AE1 S T L IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
adv
Meaning 1
Used to mark the beginning of the last in a list of items or propositions.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, sequence
Examples
Firstly, that's illegal; secondly, it has serious disadvantages; thirdly, it's not necessary; and lastly, did I mention that it's illegal?
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adv
Meaning 2
Used to signal that the speaker is about to yield control of the conversation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Qualifier: discourse marker
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
adverb
Meaning 3
the item at the end
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
last, I'll discuss family values
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: last, in conclusion, finally
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English last Middle English -ly English -ly English lastly From last + -ly.
Across languages
Translations
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
накрая
(nakraja)
— sequence
Bulgarian:
последно
(posledno)
— sequence
Finnish:
viimeiseksi
— sequence
Finnish:
lopuksi
— sequence
Italian:
alla fine
— sequence
Italian:
in ultimo
— sequence
Japanese:
最後に
(saigo-ni)
— sequence
Latin:
postrēmō
— sequence
Spanish:
postreramente
— sequence
Spanish:
postrimeramente
— sequence
Spanish:
postremamente
— sequence
Spanish:
postremeramente
— sequence
Bulgarian:
в заключение
(v zaključenie)
— discourse marker