inmost

English

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.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

inmost (not comparable)

1. The very deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost
   • 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:

     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.

   • 1905, Francis Lynde, A Fool for Love, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, page 25:

     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.

   • 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., 1918 September, →OCLC, page 104:

     It was as though she were attempting to read my inmost soul, […]

Translations

innermost — see innermost

Noun

inmost (plural inmosts)

1. That which is innermost; the core.

References

• “inmost”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• monist, omnist