late

Meaning

Adj

1. Near the end of a period of time.
2. Specifically, near the end of the day.
3. (not-comparable, usually) Associated with the end of a period.
4. Not arriving or occurring until after an expected time.
5. Levied as a surcharge on a payment which has not arrived by a specified deadline.
6. Not having had an expected menstrual period.
7. (euphemistic, not-comparable) 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.)
8. Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.
9. Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
10. Of a star or class of stars, cooler than the sun.

Noun

A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.

Adv

1. After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
2. Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.
3. Not long ago; just now, recently.

Synonyms

tardy

deceased

slow

delayed

former

belated

recent

overdue

later

tardily

dead

💀

missing

previous

belatedly

deep

behindhand

delay

departed

latest

last

lately

defunct

new

🆕

far

long

later on

advanced

behind time

behind

slowly

recently

soon

🔜

time

⌚

onetime

fresh

of late

afternoon

modern

novel

latterly

lagging

lamented

lateness

miss

deceased person

old

🧓

prior

ancestor

deficient

defer

Translations

spät

tard

laat

tarde

tardi

verspätet

tarde

tardif

en retard

tardivo

tardío

défunt

αργά

tardio

Pronounced as (IPA)

/leɪt/

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.
Cognates
Cognate with Yola laate (“late”), North Frisian leed, leet, lääs (“late”), Saterland Frisian leet (“late”), Dutch, German Low German laat (“late, tardy”), Danish lad (“languid, lazy, indolent”), Faroese, Icelandic latur (“lazy”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lat (“lazy”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “lazy, slothful”).

Sentences

He first married the late Anita Majhi.

He rushes back to the inn , but is too late to warn Primus .