ulterior Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed)
    subterranean; subterraneous.
    • subterranean motives for murder
    • looked too closely for an ulterior purpose in all knowledge"- Bertrand Russell
  2. adjective satellite beyond or outside an area of immediate interest; remote
    • a suggestion ulterior to the present discussion
    • without...any purpose, immediate or ulterior"- G.B.Shaw
  3. adjective satellite coming at a subsequent time or stage
    later; posterior.
    • without ulterior argument
    • the mood posterior to

WordNet

Ul*te"ri*or adjective
Etymology
L., comp. of ultra, ultro, beyond, on the other side, properly cases of an old adjective, formed with a comparative suffix, which is akin to OL. uls beyond, L. olim formerly, hereafter, orig., at that time, ille that, OL. olle, ollus. Cf. Outrage.
Definitions
  1. Situated beyond, or on the farther side; thither; -- correlative with hither.
  2. Further; remoter; more distant; succeeding; as, ulterior demands or propositions; ulterior views; what ulterior measures will be adopted is uncertain.
Ul*te"ri*or noun
Definitions
  1. Ulterior side or part. R. Coleridge.

Webster 1913