# Is this an 1800's British expression? Saying "of last importance" when you actually mean "most important." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676 "2025-11-07T20:46:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CanHandleTheTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@CanHandleTheTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanHandleTheTruth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/1 "2025-11-07T20:46:08Z")
I’m currently reading a book written in England in the mid-1800’s. The author keeps saying “it is of the very last importance that…” when he actually means it is the _most_ important thing. A very curious way of speaking. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/2 "2025-11-07T21:02:17Z")
Active thread on just this (general) topic: > [@Sayings, idioms, and acronyms which seem to indicate the OPPOSITE of what is intended](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599): > > On another site I was taken a bit aback yesterday when I read that a political ad had been “dropped”–so I immediately wondered who canceled it and why-was it DFT-enabled censorship at work again? A cowardly news service bending over backwards to not embarrass or anger him or his cronies? As I scanned the text of the article, I couldn’t even find any mention of it being stopped much less why, as it just went on about the ad’s content. I then realized that “drop” has somehow come to mean “release… ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/3 "2025-11-07T21:12:20Z")
I reckon that ‘last importance’ has mutated to ‘least important’ - which makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/4 "2025-11-07T22:28:23Z")
It is explained here [Meaning - “last importance”](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/182391/meaning-last-importance) and turns upon the meaning of “last”: > OED s.v. _last, adj. . . . and adv._, sense #7: > > > Reaching its ultimate limit; attaining a degree beyond which one cannot go; utmost, extreme. Now chiefly in phr. _of the last importance._ The answerer notes that the quote is probably 150 years old. ---
**Author:** ![CanHandleTheTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@CanHandleTheTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanHandleTheTruth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/5 "2025-11-07T22:55:51Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/6 "2025-11-07T23:52:25Z")
But, you know what they say: “last, but not least”! ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-1800s-british-expression-saying-of-last-importance-when-you-actually-mean-most-important/1024676/7 "2025-11-08T07:55:44Z")
Just checking the Australian newspaper database the ‘of last importance’ had hits overwhelmingly in the second half of 19th century, but not a vast amount. Spot-checking a few shows they intend it to mean of top-highest-super importance. At the same time ‘of the highest importance’ scored about 15 times the citations across the same period. Other adjectives like ultimate importance barely register. ‘Of least importance’ has similar numbers as ‘last’ but peaks later - in early C20. Make of that what you will.