Dictionary

inmost en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English inmost, from Old English innemest, a double superlative form from inne (“within”), from in (“in”). The modern form is due to confusion with most.

Meanings

1. (form-of, superlative) superlative form of inner: most inner; the very deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part.
   form of inner
   • Courtenaye was at once carried out of himself; he caught the fire of the actor; the splendid voice, the noble gesture, and the exalted sentiment, aided by the pomp of the verse, mastered his inmost soul. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A First Night”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 68:
   • It was as though she were attempting to read my inmost soul, […] 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “A Fair Goddess”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC, page 104:
   • Virginia Carteret was finding it a new and singular experience to have a man tell her baldly at their first meeting that he had read her inmost thought of him. 1905, Francis Lynde, A Fool for Love, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, page 25:

Forms

Deriveds

inmostness

inmost en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English inmost, from Old English innemest, a double superlative form from inne (“within”), from in (“in”). The modern form is due to confusion with most.

Meanings

1. That which is inmost; the core.

Forms