Penultimate means next to last. In poetry, it can describe the next-to-last line, stanza, or syllable in a word or phrase. In prosody, the term is especially common when discussing where stress falls, as in a word stressed on the penultimate syllable.
Example
The sailor's lantern swung in the night
and held its glow on the penultimate light
Related Definitions
[n] the next to last syllable in a word
[adj] next to the last; "the author inadvertently reveals the murderer in the penultimate chapter"; "the figures in the next-to-last column"