ultra

Pluralultras

1. 1
   long racenouncountable

   Short for ultramarathon: a footrace longer than the standard marathon distance.

   After a decade of road marathons, he signed up for a 100-mile ultra through the desert.

   Experienced runners often walk the steep climbs in their ultras to save their legs for the finish.

   Note

   Runners clip the long word and set it beside the race it outlasts: Rachel Toor's Personal Record (2008) counts "more than forty marathons and ultras." No single distance belongs to it. A race only a little past the marathon mark is an ultra, and so is a mountain race that runs for several days, so the word names a category of event rather than a length. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

   • Ultra is a shortened name for an ultramarathon. en.wiktionary.org
   • Rachel Toor wrote Personal Record. nebraskapress.unl.edu
   • Personal Record was first published in 2008. racheltoor.com
   • Personal Record contains the exact phrase more than forty marathons and ultras. en.wiktionary.org
   • Ultramarathons have varying distances and formats. worldathletics.org
   • A footrace qualifies as an ultramarathon when it exceeds the marathon distance. en.wikipedia.org
   • Mountain ultramarathons can last several days. torxtrail.com
2. 2
   nouncountable

   A person with extreme political views or methods, including an armed militant (a common use in South Asian news) and, historically, an ultraroyalist in early 19th-century France.

   A nationalist ultra was charged with inciting the riot that broke out after the rally.

   Security forces said four ultras surrendered with their weapons after a long standoff in the hills.

   Similarextremist, radical, militant, fanatic

   Oppositemoderate

   Note

   In news reporting the word reaches past opinion to armed militancy. A 2005 Times of India report ran under the headline "Foreign ultra killed, three injured in J&K", and in the same story five militants are nabbed while four ultras of Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami surrender: ultra and militant trade places freely, and the short word fits a headline. On the sports page, the same plural means the devoted football fans instead. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Times of India published a report in 2005 headed "Foreign ultra killed, three injured in J&K"; Wiktionary dates it to 29 December 2005. en.wiktionary.org
   • The same report says five militants were apprehended and four ultras belonging to Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami surrendered. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   soccer fannouncountable

   A member of an organized group of fiercely devoted soccer supporters known for choreographed displays, banners, chanting, and flares; some groups are also linked to political extremism or violence.

   Police kept the visiting ultras behind a cordon as smoke from their flares drifted across the stadium.

   Becoming an ultra meant giving up weekends, learning the chants, and standing in the same section of the stands for every home game.

   UsageMost often in the plural, the ultras, which can also stand before a noun: the ultras scene.

   Note

   Ultras set themselves apart from ordinary club members by sheer commitment, organizing, traveling and performing as a group. The groups began by arranging tickets and travel to away matches, then built a strong group culture of their own, sometimes with a political edge. The word often comes in the plural, which also stands before a noun, as in the ultras world. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Ultras initially distributed tickets and arranged travel to away matches, subsequently developing an organized cultural and political identity. Wiktionary reproduces Jamie Cleland's account supporting this history. en.wiktionary.org
   • Some ultras groups have political affiliations. en.wikipedia.org
4. 4
   wartime codenoununcountable

   The code name used by British codebreakers in World War II for intelligence obtained by decrypting enemy communications.

   Commanders who received Ultra were forbidden to act on it in ways that might reveal where it came from.

   Decades after the war, the Ultra secret was finally made public, and the codebreakers could tell their families what they had done.

   Note

   The capital matters here, because this is a code name rather than a description: Ultra names one body of decrypted wartime intelligence, not a degree of anything. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Ultra was the British wartime designation for intelligence obtained by decrypting enemy communications. fbi.gov

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