Dictionary

last resort en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) The only remaining, often least desirable, option when all others have been excluded.
   • I wouldn't recommend doing surgery on yourself, unless it is a last resort.
   • "Only as an absolute last resort will we carry out enforcement in the form of fines. We are sure that the public will want to be responsible and do their part to protect others by wearing face coverings." 2020 July 15, “Transport Focus: clear message needed on face coverings”, in RAIL, page 9:
   • The present writer was once asked to name what he considered to be "the most typically English railway approach to a town": a somewhat tall order, especially as such matters will always be, in the last resort, of individual opinion. But the unhesitating answer to this question (which has not been altered after many years of extended travel throughout England) was "Sudbury, in Suffolk." 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 705:

Forms

Deriveds

drug of last resort · court of last resort · lender of last resort

Relateds

desperate times call for desperate measures · last stand · last-ditch · last gasp · in extremis

Synonyms

last refuge

Translations (35)

it ultima spiaggia (only remaining option) · fr dernier recours (only remaining option) · it ultima risorsa (only remaining option) · el έσχατη λύση (only remaining option) · ru после́дняя наде́жда (only remaining option) · pt último caso (only remaining option) · fi viimeinen vaihtoehto (only remaining option) · es último recurso (only remaining option) · ja 最後の手段 (only remaining option) · is neyðarúrræði (only remaining option) · es única forma / manera (only remaining option) · es tabla de salvación (only remaining option) · is óyndisúrræði (only remaining option) · fa آخرین حربه (only remaining option) · pt última instância (only remaining option) · cmn 最後的手段 /最后的手段 (only remaining option) · id cara pamungkas (only remaining option) · mk задно прибежиште (only remaining option) · de letzter Ausweg (only remaining option) · cmn 最後的一招 /最后的一招 (only remaining option) · hu végső esetben (only remaining option) · sv sista utväg (only remaining option) · hu ha minden kötél szakad (only remaining option) · la extrēma (only remaining option) · de letztes Mittel (only remaining option) · cs poslední možnost (only remaining option) · ko 최후의 수단 (only remaining option) · hu végső/legvégső eszköz/megoldás/mentsvár (only remaining option) · pt último recurso (only remaining option) · pt derradeiro recurso (only remaining option) · es postrimera instancia (only remaining option) · es postrera esperanza (only remaining option) · fi viimeinen keino (only remaining option) · ja 最終手段 (only remaining option) · pl ostatnia deska ratunku (only remaining option)