We discuss the properties of the effective-one-body (EOB) multipolar gravitational waveform emitted by nonspinning black-hole binaries of masses μ and M in the extreme-mass-ratio limit μ/M= ν≪ 1. We focus on the transition from quasicircular inspiral to plunge, merger, and ringdown. We compare the EOB waveform to a Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli waveform computed using the hyperboloidal layer method and extracted at null infinity. Because the EOB waveform keeps track analytically of most phase differences in the early inspiral, we do not allow for any arbitrary time or phase shift between the waveforms. The dynamics of the particle, common to both wave-generation formalisms, is driven by a leading-order O (ν) analytically resummed radiation reaction. The EOB and the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli waveforms have an initial dephasing of about 5× 10− 4 rad and maintain then a remarkably accurate phase coherence …