Use it carefully! Like all fancy Latin terms, it can sound snobby, stuffy, too academic, or too old-fashioned. Still, even if your listeners are unfamiliar with this term, they'll probably understand it. It looks and sounds enough like "plus" and "ultra" to get the idea across.

So if you're going for a serious, scholarly mood, then you can heap praise on something by calling it "the ne plus ultra" of whatever type of thing it is. "Miles Davis is the ne plus ultra of jazz musicians." "GE's Opal is the ne plus ultra of nugget ice makers." Here's the Washington Post: "champagne, the ne plus ultra of sparkling wine."

That's most often how we use this word. But we can also use it to mean "a peak" or "a high point," as in "His musical career came to a ne plus ultra that year" or "A most excellently developed story, in which realism has been carried to a ne plus ultra (Leo Wiener)." 

"It was the last really elegant shop of its kind left in Manhattan... the ne plus ultra of American bookstores."
— Felice Picano, The Daily Beast, 12 July 2017

"There is something special about Israeli action series — they tend to be smarter and more complex than American productions while still providing seat-of-the-pants action. And 'Prisoners of War' is pretty much the ne plus ultra of the genre."
— Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 4 April 2020

has this page helped you understand "ne plus ultra"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "ne plus ultra" without saying "the ultimate" or "a state of perfection."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something) is the ne plus ultra of (its type)."

Example 1: "The Hunger Games is the ne plus ultra of teen dystopian fiction."

Example 2: "The display cases at the Atlanta jewelry store Icebox teem with Cuban link chains, watches called bustdowns covered edge to edge in diamonds, gold pendants in dozens of designs. It is the ne plus ultra of contemporary hip-hop luxury."
— Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 30 September 2021

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That’s What They Said."

Consider a quote from The Office, and decide which of three given terms you can most easily connect it to. You can see my suggested answer by scrolling to the bottom of the issue. But yours doesn’t need to match mine. 

For example, if I give you this:

Kelly: "I talk a lot, so I've learned to just tune myself out." Abstemious, garrulous, or ominous?

Then you might answer, "Garrulous, because Kelly talks on and on."

Try this one today:

Kevin: "The only problem is whenever I try to make a taco, I get too excited and I crush it." Chortle, beamish, or galumphing?

review this word:

1. A near opposite of NE PLUS ULTRA is

A. AN ALL-TIME LOW.
B. INFRA DIG (beneath one's dignity).
C. THE CRÈME DE LA CRÈME (the best of the best).

2. The phrase "ne plus ultra" is reputed to have been carved on the Pillars of Hercules, not to celebrate the pillars' beauty but rather, much more literally, to _____.

A. give directions to a nearby city
B. warn sailors against traveling beyond them
C. describe the materials they were carved from

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B Suggested answer to the game question: I'd go with galumphing, because Kevin's taco assembly is both joyful and clumsy.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.