Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Coming, occurring, or remaining after the correct, usual, or expected time; delayed: The bus is late. See Synonyms at tardy.
- adj. Beginning after or continuing past the usual or expected hour: a late breakfast; a late meeting.
- adj. Occurring at an advanced hour, especially well into the evening or night: a late movie on television; the late flight to Denver.
- adj. Of or toward the end or more advanced part, as of a period or stage: the late 19th century; a later symptom of the disease.
- adj. Having begun or occurred just previous to the present time; recent: a late development.
- adj. Contemporary; up-to-date: the latest fashion.
- adj. Having recently occupied a position or place: the company's late president gave the address.
- adj. Dead, especially if only recently deceased: in memory of the late explorer.
- adv. After the expected, usual, or proper time: a train that arrived late; woke late and had to skip breakfast.
- adv. At or until an advanced hour: talked late into the evening.
- adv. At or into an advanced period or stage: a project undertaken late in her career.
- adv. Recently: As late as last week he was still in town.
- idiom. of late Recently; lately: was feeling better of late.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Coming, appearing, or continuing after the usual or proper time; slow or tardy; long delayed; prolonged; behind time: opposed to early: as, a late arrival; a late summer; a late embryo.
- Being or coming near the end or close; far advanced in time; last: as, a late hour of the day; a late period of life; set the latest time you can.
- Recent; of recent origin or existence; not of old date: as, the latest fashion; late news.
- Comparatively recent (with reference to something older); of a comparatively recent date or period: as, late (medieval) glass; late (Greek) sculpture or epigraphy.
- Recently existing, but not now; not long past: as, the late rains.
- Recently acting; in a series, immediately preceding that which now exists: as, the late administration.
- Deceased.
- Synonyms Recent, Fresh, etc. See new.
- After the usual time or the time appointed; after delay: as, fruits that ripen late.
- Not long since; recently; of late.
- Beyond the usual or proper time: as, to lie abed late.
- See lait.
- A Middle English form of let.
- n. Manner; behavior.
- n. A sound; voice.
- Slow or backward in bearing crops, because heavy, clayey, cold, sour, or unfavorably situated as regards the sun, or the like: as, late land.
Wiktionary
- n. Manner; behaviour; outward appearance or aspect.
- n. A sound; voice.
- n. A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
- adj. Near the end of a period of time.
- adj. Specifically, near the end of the day.
- adj. Associated with the end of a period.
- adj. Not arriving until after an expected time.
- adj. Deceased, dead: used particularly when speaking of the dead person's actions while alive. (Often used with term; see usage notes.)
- adj. Recent -- relative to the noun it modifies.
- adv. After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Coming after the time when due, or after the usual or proper time; not early; slow; tardy; long delayed.
- adj. Far advanced toward the end or close
- adj. Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; recently deceased, departed, or gone out of office
- adj. Not long past; happening not long ago; recent.
- adj. Continuing or doing until an advanced hour of the night
- adv. After the usual or proper time, or the time appointed; after delay; ; -- opposed to
early . - adv. Not long ago; lately.
- adv. Far in the night, day, week, or other particular period
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
- adv. at an advanced age or stage
- adj. (used especially of persons) of the immediate past
- adj. of the immediate past or just previous to the present time
- adv. later than usual or than expected
- adj. after the expected or usual time; delayed.
- adv. to an advanced time
- adv. in the recent past
- adj. of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages
- adj. having died recently
- adj. at or toward an end or late period or stage of development
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English læt; see lē- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“They looked everywhere for his late (yes, his _late_) companion; but she had vanished.”
Harper's Young People, December 23, 1879 An Illustrated Weekly
“Hobler replied that the loss of the title was not by the late Lord Mayor but by the _late_ Prince of Wales.”
“Some people are too late for everything but ruin; when a nobleman apologized to George III. for being late, and said, "better late than never," the king replied, "No, I say, _better never than late_.”
“Porges had arrived a term late in our class, so had ground to make up socially.”
“I hate the phrase late bloomers ," our gawky heroine laments.”
“I should have seen what was coming after that time she got in late from the library.”
“That it can't accept financial penalties for coming in late is a bow nuke power's long history of hugely expensive delays.”
The Huffington Post: Harvey Wasserman: Nuke "Renaissance" Leaps off Calvert Cliffs
“It was possible, wasnt it, that a typesetters mind might wander for a moment, the word late be inserted by error?”
“Be calm, and that's part of it too: turning a book in late is not an end of the world scenario.”
“Before the clashes Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had met with Red Shirt leaders and offered to hold elections within nine months, well ahead of the end of his term late next year.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘late’.
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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movement (slow)
words describing slow action or movement
( randomness, descriptive )creep, crawl, plod, slouch, idle, lumber, tiptoe, bend, amble, mosey, saunter, loiter and 117 more...
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Open List: There's A Fee For That!
List of fees, tolls, surcharges - stupid, disingenuous, predatory, or otherwise - that are levied by governments, banks, phone companies and businesses against citizens, customers, and consumers.
overdraft, connection, reconnection, deconnection, restocking, late, impact, cancellation, universal default, overuse, usage, transfer-balance and 142 more...
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Words Heard Too Often In Songs
Words overused in modern pop music.
Also see ruzuzu's list: Words that should be heard in songs more often.love, heart, dance, dancefloor, down, take, want, night, fight, baby, like, ooooh and 135 more...
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You ate what?
habituate, eventuate, accentuate, effectuate, perpetuate, exsanguinate, insinuate, evaluate, fluctuate, adequate, menstruate, disambiguate and 21 more...
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mine
no way to describe what happens here

plethora Oh, Pro. We've all been there. Dec 9, 2009
Prolagus I can't believe I forgot I had class this morning. I'm on the train right now (9.30), and my class started at 9. Dec 9, 2009
bilby "'They go wrong, these parachute jumps,' said the apprentice, as if he had picked up the direction of her thoughts. 'There was a man in the Botswana Defence Force whose parachute didn't open. That man is late now.'"
- 'The Full Cupboard of Life', Alexander McCall Smith. Mar 18, 2008