ADJECTIVE late COMPARATIVE later SUPERLATIVE latest

A1

late English

Learners of English as a second language usually know the word late once they have reached the level A1 – Beginner. English words by learner level A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2

Meaning late meaning

What does late mean?

Definitions in simple English

late Adjective

— An event is late if it happens after a specified time. He was late to his appointment.

— Late at night. It was a late meeting.

— Towards the end of. You come in the late afternoon.

— Someone who is dead. I loved my late husband.

late Adverb

— Not on time. He came five minutes late.

— Late at night. We stayed late and went home in the dark.

late

— adjective being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time late evening late 18th century a late movie took a late flight had a late breakfast

— adverb (= belatedly, tardily) later than usual or than expected the train arrived late we awoke late the children came late to school notice came so tardily that we almost missed the deadline I belatedly wished her a happy birthday

— adjective (= belated, tardy) after the expected or usual time; delayed a belated birthday card I'm late for the plane the train is late tardy children are sent to the principal always tardy in making dental appointments

— adjective (= recent) of the immediate past or just previous to the present time a late development their late quarrel his recent trip to Africa in recent months a recent issue of the journal

— adjective having died recently her late husband

— adverb (= deep) to an advanced time deep into the night talked late into the evening

— adjective of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages Late Greek

— adjective (= later) at or toward an end or late period or stage of development the late phase of feudalism a later symptom of the disease later medical science could have saved the child

— adverb at an advanced age or stage she married late undertook the project late in her career

— adverb (= recently, lately, of late, latterly) in the recent past he was in Paris recently lately the rules have been enforced as late as yesterday she was fine feeling better of late the spelling was first affected, but latterly the meaning also

— adjective (= former, previous) (used especially of persons) of the immediate past the former president our late President is still very active the previous occupant of the White House

Synonyms late synonyms

What other words have the same or similar meaning as late?

late English » English

tardy

deceased

slow

delayed

former

belated

recent

overdue

later

tardily

previous

missing

dead

belatedly

latest

lately

last

departed

delay

deep

behindhand

new

defunct

long

later on

far

advanced

time

soon

slowly

recently

prior

onetime

old

of late

novel

modern

miss

latterly

lateness

lamented

lagging

fresh

deceased person

behind time

behind

afternoon

yesterday

whilom

very

Topics late topics

What do people use late to talk about?

States Time Relative time Right time

Late

• What words indicate that something happens late?
  late (adv) not on time lateness (of the hour) late in life
• What words describe something that happens late?
  late (adj) overdue belated
• What words refer to not finishing something within the time that is allowed?
  be behind be behind schedule be running late overrun
• What words indicate that something is too late?
  too late it's a little late in the day leave it a bit late miss

Person Life

Die

• What words describe someone who is dead?
  dead deceased stone-dead dead as a doornail late lifeless

States Time Aspectual time Age

Old, not new

• What words describe something that is old?
  old older oldest dated late

States Time Period of time Day

Time of the day

• What words refer to the time between sunset and when you go to sleep?
  evening early evening late in the evening tonight eventide vesper late night
• What words refer to the time between midnight and dawn?
  late at night the early hours of the morning (2-4) the small hours the wee hours of the morning the first watch the second watch

Daily life Sleep

Go to sleep

• What words refer to going to bed early or late?
  early night late night stay up

States Time Relative time Right time

Delay

• What words refer to something delaying someone?
  delay make someone late hold someone up keep detain

Examples late examples

How do I use late in a sentence?

Simple sentences

Better late than never.

You must have stayed up late.

You were late for work.

Hurry up, or you will be late for the last train.

In case I am late, you don't have to wait for me.

I usually get up late.

As usual, he was late and made us wait for a long time.

Yesterday he came back late.

I am proud of never being late for school.

I was late for school this morning.

What keeps you up so late?

Too late.

I was late to school.

It is never too late to learn.

It's never too late to learn.

It seems to me that the train is late.

The train seems to be late.

How do you account for your being late?

You won't be late, will you?

All you have to do is apologize for being late.

You may be late for school.

Why is it that you are always late?

Movie subtitles

We're late, I hope he's waiting for us.

You were too late!

As England's population growth accelerated in the late 1 7th century, trade brought an influx of new nutrients like potatoes and sugar, while colonisation allowed the emigration of surplus people.

Before it gets too late, I think we should.

I am sorry for sending her back late.

Isn't Lord Choi too late?

But maybe it's not too late to fix it.

Of course it's too late.

We got back late from the cottage.

This late?

Of course, she's late.

Oh, sorry I'm late.

It's too late. Brenda, he's gone.

He's a personal friend of the Wadsworths, and when he has to work late in Brokenwood, he stays here so he doesn't have to drive all the way back to Riverstone.

Which was removed in the late 50s.

We Saint-Simonians, who follow the teachings of our master, the late Count of Saint-Simon, a remarkable economist and philosopher, want to build a new society based on progress.

We're late, Odilon.

Hurry up, we'll be late.

Then I realized it's too late.

Hurry up, you'll be late.

Sorry we're late.

True enough. I see your point. But I also agree with Jet's view that we should do something before it's too late.

I'm gonna be so late.

Late into the night.

I'm late, I have to go.

You're too late.

It's too late.

Have the other teams arrived? We have come a bit late, other team members have already completed the adaptation training a month ago.

It's a late introduction.

But I'm still too late.

Your late father and husband was a very close acquaintance of mine.

BUT IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO CHOOSE TUCSON.

HE SAID IT WAS NEW YORK ONCE, but it's never too late to choose Tucson.

OVER THE ONES THAT USE ME. I'M JUST SORRY I DID IT TOO LATE.

It's already too late for that.

I'm sorry! We got back late from the cottage.

News and current affairs

Since he first appeared at the side of Dr. Chaim Weizmann in the late 1940's during the struggle for Jewish statehood and sovereignty, few people could articulate the Zionist and later the Israeli case with comparable eloquence and conviction.

It is not too late to learn the lessons of the misadventures of A. Q. Khan.

In late May, the international community will have a chance to begin implementing these ideas at the WHO World Health Assembly - a moment of hope for public health around the world.

But it is better to begin the ethical discussion too early than too late.

Yet, while the two parties now seem irreconcilable, it is not too late for compromise.

Their financial trust index, based on a large-scale survey of financial decision-makers in American households, did show a sharp fall in trust in late 2008 and early 2009, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

By late spring, those expectations had disintegrated alongside the collapse of Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen.

From the late 1970's until 2007, the financial sector grew far more rapidly than the real economy.

In the east, China, its growth model unsustainable, could be underwater by 2013, as its investment bust continues and reforms intended to boost consumption are too little too late.

The only way, he says, for the Fed to have kept stock prices in reasonable equilibrium ranges in the late 1990's would have been to raise interest rates so high that they hit the real economy on the head with a brick.

America should start to listen before it is too late.

Despite dramatically falling crime rates over the last ten years (which most criminologists attribute more to demography - there have simply been fewer young men of late - than incarceration), prison populations have continued to soar.

For example, federal spending relative to GDP fell by five percentage points from the mid-1980's to the late 1990's in the US, and by an even larger margin in recent decades in Canada - that is, through periods of strong economic growth.

It is opening again and should be taken advantage of before it is too late.

And if it's too late for the wedding, there's always the reception.

Spain is taking global leadership in combating hunger by inviting world leaders to Madrid in late January to move beyond words to action.

Peter Kenen argued in the late 1960's that without exchange-rate movements as a shock absorber, a currency union requires fiscal transfers as a way to share risk.

But deficit spending by governments continued apace, and public debt as a share of GDP in industrial countries climbed steadily from the late 1970's, this time without inflation to reduce its real value.

Indeed, many highly indebted countries in Latin America conducted similar debt buybacks in the late 1980's.

A wave of state defaults followed in the late 1830's.

NEW HAVEN - In the late 1980s, there was intense debate about the so-called productivity paradox - when massive investments in information technology (IT) were not delivering measureable productivity improvements.

Khalilzad and Karzai spent considerable efforts in the late 1990s to get an American-built pipeline to carry gas from Turkeminstan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and the Indian Ocean.

Now it has responded, with a stimulus package that is too little, too late, and badly designed.

The consequences for American society are profound, troubling, and a warning to the world - though it probably comes far too late to be heeded.

In this, Khamenei was following the lead of the late Shah, who kept Amir Abbas Hoveyda, a loyal retainer, as prime minister from 1965 until the Shah was overthrown in 1979.

Intellectuals like the late Edward Said gave voice to it, but it has many followers in the United States and Europe.