late
/leɪt/ adjective, noun, adverb
- adjective Near the end of a period of time. “The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.”
- adjective Specifically, near the end of the day. “It was getting late and I was tired.”
- adjective (usually not comparable) Associated with the end of a period. “Late Latin is less fully inflected than Classical Latin.”
- adjective Not arriving or occurring until after an expected time. “The flowers were late in blooming because of the prolonged cold weather.”
- adjective Levied as a surcharge on a payment which has not arrived by a specified deadline. “The power company suspended late fees during the pandemic.”
- adjective Not having had an expected menstrual period. “I'm late, honey. Could you buy a test?”
- adjective (not comparable, euphemistic) Recently deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Generally must be preceded by a possessive or an article, commonly “the”; see usage notes. Can itself only precede the person's name, never follow it.) “Her late husband had left her well provided for.”
- adjective (dated) Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office. “the late bishop of London”
- noun (informal) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
- adverb After a deadline has passed, past a designated time. “We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.”
- adverb Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit. “Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.”
- adverb Not long ago; just now, recently.
Synonyms
tardy belatedly erenow freshly belated recent later former previous tardily deep recently lately of late latterly
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.
Cognate with Yola laate (“late”), North Frisian leed, leet, lääs (“late”), Saterland Frisian leet (“late”), Dutch, German Low German laat (“late, tardy”), German lass (“lazy, sluggish”), Danish lad (“languid, lazy, indolent”), Faroese, Icelandic latur (“lazy”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lat (“lazy”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “lazy, slothful”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Coming after the time when due, or after the usual or proper time; not early; slow; tardy; long delayed; as, a late spring.
- adjective Far advanced toward the end or close; as, a late hour of the day; a late period of life.
- adverb After the usual or proper time, or the time appointed; after delay; as, he arrived late; --opposed to early.
- adverb Not long ago; lately.
Etymology [OE. lat slow, slack, As.læt; akin to Os. lat, D. laat late, G. lass weary, lazy, slack, Icel. latr, Sw. lat, Dan. lad, Goth. lats, and to E. let, v. See Let to permit, and cf. Alas, Lassitude.]
Etymology [AS. late. See Late, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “late”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details