late

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See also: LATE, latè, Latè, latë, łatę, and łate

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪt

Etymology

From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”).

Adjective

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

  1. Near the end of a period of time.
    It was late in the evening when we finally arrived.
  2. Specifically, near the end of the day.
    It was getting late and I was tired.
  3. (usually not used comparatively) Associated with the end of a period.
    Late Latin is less fully inflected than classical Latin.
  4. Not arriving until after an expected time.
    Even though we drove as fast as we could, we were still late.
    Panos was so late that he arrived at the meeting after Antonio, who had the excuse of being in hospital for most of the night.
  5. Not having had an expected menstrual period.
    I'm late, honey. Could you buy a test?
  6. (not comparable, euphemistic) Deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Often used with "the"; see usage notes.)
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 12, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.
    Her late husband had left her well provided for.
    The piece was composed by the late Igor Stravinsky.
  7. Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.
    the late bishop of London
    the late administration
  8. Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1:
      OLd Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaſter,
      Haſt thou according to thy oath and band
      Brought hither Henry Herford thy bold ſon:
      Heere to make good yͤ boiſtrous late appeale,
      Which then our leyſure would not let vs heare,
      Againſt the Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Mowbray?
    • 1914, Robert Frost, North of Boston, "A Hundred Collars":
      Lancaster bore him — such a little town, / Such a great man. It doesn't see him often / Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead / And sends the children down there with their mother […]

Usage notes

  • (deceased): Late in this sense is unusual among English adjectives in that it qualifies named individuals (in phrases like the late Mary) without creating a contrast with another Mary who is not late. Contrast hungry: a phrase like the hungry Mary is usually only used if another Mary is under discussion who is not hungry.

Translations

Noun

late (plural lates)

  1. (informal) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
    • 2007, Paul W Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue:
      At about 11 pm one night in Corporation Street my watch were on van patrol and Yellow Watch were on late as usual.

Antonyms

Adverb

late (comparative later, superlative latest)

  1. After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
    We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.
  2. 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.
    The Hendersons will all be there / Late of Pablo Fanque's Fair / What a scene!
  3. Not long ago; just now.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from late (all senses)

Template:rel-mid3

Template:rel-mid3

Translations

References

  • 2009 April 3, Peter T. Daniels, "Re: Has 'late' split up into a pair of homonyms?", message-ID <bdb13686-a6e4-43cd-8445-efe353365394@l13g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, alt.usage.english and sci.lang, Usenet.

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

late

  1. (deprecated template usage) Inflected form of laat

Verb

late

  1. (deprecated template usage) (archaic) singular present subjunctive of laten

Italian

Adjective

Template:it-adj-form

  1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine plural of adjective lato.

Karelian

Etymology

Akin to Finnish lattia.

Noun

late (genitive lattien, partitive latettu)

  1. floor

Latin

Adverb

lātē (comparative lātius, superlative lātissimē)

  1. broadly, widely
  2. extensively
  3. far and wide, everywhere
  4. lavishly, to excess

References

  • “late”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “late”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the twigs are shooting out, spreading: rami late diffunduntur
    • to have a wide extent: late patere (also metaphorically vid. sect. VIII. 8)

Middle English

Etymology

From Old Norse lát (“conduct, demeanour, voice, sound”, literally “let, letting, loss”) (from Proto-Germanic *lētiją (“behaviour”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēid-, *lēy- (“to leave, let”). Cognate with Middle Low German lāt (“outward appearance, gesture, manner”), Old English lǣtan (“to let”). More at let.

Noun

late

  1. Manner; behaviour; outward appearance or aspect.
  2. A sound; voice.
    • c 1275-1499, King Alexander
      Than have we liking to lithe the lates of the foules.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Adjective

Template:nb-adj-form

  1. definite singular and plural of lat

Etymology 2

From Old Norse láta

Verb

late (imperative lat, present tense later, passive lates, simple past lot, past participle latt, present participle latende)

  1. to seem, appear
  2. (also late som) to pretend
Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Adjective

Template:nn-adj-form

  1. inflection of lat:
    1. definite singular
    2. plural

Etymology 2

Verb

late (present tense lèt, past tense lét, past participle late, passive infinitive latast, present participle latande, imperative lat)

  1. Alternative form of la

Etymology 3

From Old Norse láta

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

late (present tense lèt, past tense lét, past participle late, passive infinitive latast, present participle latande, imperative lat)

  1. to seem, appear
  2. (also late som) to pretend
Derived terms

References

Old English

Etymology

Adverbial form of læt

Pronunciation

Adverb

late

  1. late

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Brazil" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈla.t͡ʃi/

Verb

late

  1. Template:pt-verb-form-of

Spanish

Verb

late

  1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of latir.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of latir.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present indicative form of latir.

Swedish

Adjective

late

  1. (deprecated template usage) definite natural masculine singular of lat

Anagrams

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