ne plus ultra

• nec plus ultra

Borrowed from Latin nē plūs ultrā.

• enPR: /nā' plŭs ŭl'trə/, enPR: /nē' plŭs ŭl'trə/, enPR: /nā' plo͝os o͝ol'trə/

ne plus ultra (plural ne plus ultras)

1. The highest, ultimate point of achievement which can be reached; perfection.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Success”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 74:

     Suppers were the ne plus ultra of human invention; it could go no further, and was obliged to degenerate; dinner is too much matter of business, it is a necessity: now, a necessity is too like a duty ever to be pleasant.

   • November 30, 2014, Julia Kavanagh, Rome: The ‘ne plus ultra’ of Art[1]

     It doesn’t get any better than this because Rome, like Florence, is the ne plus ultra of art.

2. The perfect or most extreme example of its kind; the ultimate.
3. (rare) A prohibition against proceeding further; an insuperable obstacle or limiting condition.

Ellipsis of a subjunctive verb like prōgrediāris (“may you advance”); or reinterpreted as a negative result clause with ellipsis of fierī possit (“so that ... is impossible”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈneː ˈpɫuːs ˈʊɫ.traː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɛː ˈplus ˈul̪.t̪ra]

nē plūs ultra

1. alternative form of nōn plūs ultrā (“A warning to not go beyond a certain point.”)