last mile
noun
plural last miles
1
: the final stage of the distance that must be covered by a service (as a telecommunications network or delivery service) in order to reach a consumer
… there will be only two ways to make big money. One is in owning the so-called last mile of cable leading to the home. The other is in owning content.—Janet Guyon
The Internet may seem amorphous, but it's at heart pretty physical. Its backbone is a huge array of fiber-optic, telephone, and TV cables that carry data from country to country. To gain access, you need someone to connect your house to that backbone. This is what's known as the "last mile" problem, and it's usually solved by large internet service providers …—Clive Thompson
—sometimes hyphenated when used before another nounThat's why UPS and FedEx don't ship everywhere. It's just not profitable. So where do they turn for last-mile delivery? To the Postal Service.—Josh Sanburn
2
: the walk of a condemned person to the place of execution
—usually used with the
Some of Sing Sing's higher-profile cases received sensational coverage … spawning more than a dozen major Hollywood movies that imprinted chilling images of the chair, the last mile, and other macabre conventions onto the minds of generations of Americans.—Scott Christianson
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“Last mile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/last%20mile. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.
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