utilissima

Utilissima is the feminine form of the Latin adjective utilissimus, meaning “most useful” or “very useful.” In classical usage it functions as an adjective agreeing with a feminine noun, while masculine and neuter forms are utilissimus and utilissimum respectively.

Etymology and forms: utilissima derives from utilis, meaning useful, plus the superlative suffix -issimus. The full paradigm includes utilissimus (masc), utilissima (fem), and utilissimum (neut). Like other Latin adjectives, utilissima shows agreement with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.

Usage in Latin texts: in Latin prose, utilissima appears to express the highest degree of usefulness. Common constructions place the noun first, as in memoria utilissima (“the most useful memory”) or res utilissima (“the most useful thing”). The form can also be used predicatively, for example Haec res utilissima est (“This thing is the most useful”). Such usage illustrates typical Latin adjective placement and agreement patterns.

Modern context: in contemporary scholarship, utilissima is primarily encountered in discussions of Latin grammar, morphology, and textual analysis. It is of interest to linguists and philologists studying how superlative forms convey degree and emphasis. The term may occasionally appear in historical scientific or botanical Latin as part of longer descriptors, reflecting traditional practices of naming or describing traits.

See also: utilitas, the Latin noun for usefulness, and related terms in Latin grammar and English derivatives such as utilitarian and utility.