Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🕒 Recently 🚆 Delayed 🏁 Near the end ⏰ After expected time 🆕 Recent 🕊️ Recently dead
late

late

∞ 1.2
In the recent past
  • adverb
  • /leɪt/
translation icon : últimamente
  • A couple of nights later I went to the house.

These kinds of transactions aren't new but have been drawing greater attention of late.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • You can pay me later.

    Dirty Dishes (2022)

  • The launch date is expected to be at least seven years later than the date set in 2004.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The next time I saw her, four or five years later, things were different here.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I went back to work a week or so later, after everybody had come and gone.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • In accordance with this new strategy, a few months later Long organized a "secret session" of black Republicans.

    Academic text (2011)

  • I heard the story first from another neighbor and later, in more detail, from Elka herself.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Then, about six years later, I rode the train again, and the concession stands were gone.

    The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

  • My first employer lost the competition, and one year later merged with the Minneapolis Tribune.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The couple followed Penelope's father again a few years later in his southwestward Georgia-Florida migration.

    Academic text (2011)

  • I have noticed some strange behavior from him as of late.

Synonyms

recently
vslate
∞ 1.0

A short time before now

is instead mainly found within one specific phrase
lately
vslate
∞ 1.0

In the period just before now

is more commonly used inside a particular phrase than alone
of late
vslate
91 3.3

Happening in the recent past, in the last few weeks or months

is the form usually used inside a fixed time phrase
as of late
vslate
16 3.5

Recently, in the past few weeks or months

is more often confined to a single established phrase
latterly
vslate
  • UK
1 6.2

In the recent past

is focused on the immediate recent past not the later period

Idioms

of late
91 3.3

Happening in the recent past, in the last few weeks or months

late into the night
27 2.7

Until very late at night

as of late
16 3.5

Recently, in the past few weeks or months

late to the party
  • Informal
8 7.1

Joining after others have already started something important

fashionably late
6 4.8

Arriving a little after the set time on purpose to look stylish

late for one's own funeral
  • Informal
1 8.8

Very likely to arrive after the expected time because they are often not on time

Compounds

late-night
84 3.9

Happening or done after most people go to bed

late night
42 2.0

A time late in the evening when people stay awake to work or finish tasks

late bloomer
11 4.6

A person who shows skill or talent later than others

late model
11 3.9

A recent car or truck made in the last few years

late fee
10 3.1

An extra charge you pay when a payment is late

tad late
  • Informal
1 7.6

A little after the time you should arrive

late-night hour
1 3.7

The late part of the night when most people are asleep

late-night karaoke
1 4.6

A time when people sing with recorded music in a bar late at night

late blight
  • Specialized
7.3

A serious plant disease that attacks potatoes and tomatoes late in the growing season

late purple aster
  • US
9.9

A wildflower that has purple flowers like a daisy in late summer and fall

late unpleasantness
  • Literature
9.0

A recent time of trouble or bad events

late-blooming
4.7

A plant that flowers later than most, often in autumn

late-blooming
4.8

Something that develops or succeeds later than usual

Late Greek
  • Specialized
9.5

A form of Greek used from the third to the eighth centuries

Late Greek language
  • Specialized
9.9

A form of Greek used in speech and writing from the 3rd to the 8th centuries AD

Late Latin
  • Specialized
9.9

A form of Latin used from the 3rd to the 8th century that links Classical and Medieval Latin

late-night dance marathon
5.5

A long party where people dance late at night for many hours

late-flowering
4.4

Plants that bloom late in the growing season, often in autumn

late-flowering
6.8

Show important talent or success later than usual in life

late-ripening
  • Specialized
5.6

A plant or fruit that becomes ripe late in the growing season, often in fall

late-spring-blooming
  • Specialized
3.9

A plant that has flowers in the later part of spring

motherfunking late
  • Offensive
9.9

Arriving much later than expected and making people angry

the late unpleasantness
  • Archaic
9.9

A polite or ironic name for the American Civil War

How Recent

just now
278 1.0
late
∞ 1.2
the other day
267 1.7
long ago
521 1.0

Surface Forms

late positive
later comparative
latest superlative

Etymology

Late has long been used to mean 'recently', and it is the same root behind lately and the phrase 'of late', so a helpful way to remember it is to think of 'of late' as 'in the near past'.