inmost

1. 1
   adjective

   Superlative of inner.

   He confided his inmost feelings only to his sister.

   The explorers finally reached the inmost chamber of the cave.

   Note

   A superlative that only looks as if it were built with most. Old English innemest was already a double superlative of inne, "within", and the spelling later drifted toward most by confusion. In use it leans toward the mind rather than the map. Examples include Letitia Elizabeth Landon's inmost soul (1837) and Francis Lynde's inmost thought (1905), which carry on the private, spiritual side of inner.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The deepest or most inward part of something; the core.

   Like the keep at the center of a castle, the part everything else is built to protect.

   The pilgrims pressed on toward the inmost of the shrine.

   In the inmost of his being, he longed for a lasting peace.

   Similarheart, core, depths, center, interior

   Oppositeexterior, surface, outside

   Note

   The adjective standing on its own as a noun, usually with the and often followed by of: the inmost of the shrine, the inmost of his being. It shares its double-superlative history with the adjective. Despite its absolute meaning it does take a plural, inmosts, for the cores of several things.

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