My utmost thoughts on nethermost, outermost and other -most words

Nethermost is among the topmost of words that I want to use more often.

Upmost is at the bottommost of that list.

While thinking about the utmost importance of –most words today, I realized that I had no idea there were so many of them. I knew there were a lot, but never in the hindermost parts of my brain had I imagined there were so many.

So, after a little research and way too much time thinking about this, here are a few of the –most words that I found interesting.

Utmost – Utmost is a popular word, but one that looks funny when you examine it. Does it have the most ut? The word means the highest degree, quality, number or amount. It can also mean the extreme limit. People often say that something is of the utmost importance. One phrase I hear a lot is “Nick Claussen is the utmost writer.” In old English, the word “Ut” apparently used to mean “Out” so it makes sense that utmost basically means outermost.

Outermost – This word means farthest out or farthest from the center. It’s synonyms include several other -most words including farthermost, furthermost, outmost and, of course, utmost.

Inmost – This word means farthest from the outside, deepest within or innermost. Here is how I would  use it in a sentence, “In most instances, the inmost seat is my lowermost favorite.”

Upmost – While people sometimes confuse it with utmost, upmost means uppermost.

Topmost – This word seems pretty self-explanatory.

Bottommost – As does this one.

Middlemost – I’ll be honest, I didn’t now this was a word before typing it in to try it. As you might expect, it means in the middle, nearest the middle or midmost.

Midmost – I was also not familiar with this word before. It means middlemost.

Nethermost – This is a tremendous word that means farthest down or lowest. People like to talk about the nethermost regions of something or other, and it just sounds awesome.

Undermost – This word means lowest in relative position and it sounds like a biting insult. “You are the undermost underworld character!” You can also use it for descriptive purposes, such as picking out clothes out of the dresser. “Please grab the undermost underwear.”

Donny Most – Synonyms include “Sit on it Potsie!” and “I’ve still got it!” Donny Most is mostly known for playing the character, Ralph Malph on the popular TV series, “Happy Days.” He has accomplished quite a bit in his career, and you can read about him here.

Uttermost – This word means outermost, extreme or utmost.

Hithermost – This word means nearest on this side and is apparently related to phrases such as “hither and yon” and “hither and thither,” which both mean here and there. When the opportunity is hithermost, I plan to use hither and thither in conversation.

Hindermost – This means located to the farthest back. It also means backmost, hindmost and rearmost.

Centermost – It means in the center.

Southernmost and other directions – I hear these words a lot when people are describing a location. And if westernmost, easternmost and the other direction are words, I would argue that northeasternmost should also be a word, which would qualify it was one of the rare and amazing triple compound words.

Foremost – A very popular word, it means first in a series or first in rank. People use the word to show prestige or importance.

Rearmost – While seemingly the opposite of foremost, you almost never hear this word. You might say, “Nick Claussen is the rearmost expert on physics!” It’s insulting, but actually sounds fairly impressive.

Aftermost – Merriam-Webster says that it means farthest aft, which doesn’t really help me at all. Collins Dictionary says that it means nearest to the stern, which also doesn’t help me because I don’t know boat terms. After much consideration, aftermost is a word I won’t use often.

Almost – Now there’s a word I can use! Although looking at all of the other –most words, you’d think that it would mean all of a list or complete or something like that. Instead, it means very nearly or not quite.

So what have we almost learned today? After most of my research, I find that words such as hindmost, middlemost and undermost are fascinating and I want to use them to the uttermost of my ability. Others, though, may consider these word to be at the midmost of importance and will only use them hither and thither.