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Glite Dictionary
late fee

late fee

10 3.1
An extra charge you pay when a payment is late
  • noun
translation icon : recargo por pago tardío
  • So listen, how much we owe you, for late fees?
  • charge late fees
  • pay late fees
  • waive a late fee

And what happened when we did the no due dates, no late fees?

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Examples

  • Customers could keep the movies as long as they liked, without worrying about the late fees incurred for missing the due date.

    Academic text (2016)

  • I ended up incurring several months of late fees and an increase in my interest rate.

    Blog text (14)

  • What do you think that late fee is gonna be?

    The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

  • And after that, there is a late fee.

    The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

  • Any late fees I should know about?

    Doctor Strange (2016)

  • I have to charge you a late fee if you don't pay soon.

    Love Object (2004)

  • Determine when the payment will be due and what, if any, late fees or penalties will be assessed.

    Blog text (21)

  • I don't want any late fees.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Just one missed payment can hurt your credit score and incur a huge late fee.

    Blog text (30)

  • I have to charge you a late fee if you don't pay soon.

Synonyms

charge
vslate fee
755 2.3

An amount of money paid for a service

is added only when a bill is paid after its due date
surcharge
vslate fee
31 5.5

An extra charge added to the usual price for a service

is imposed specifically when payment arrives after its due date

How Big

penalty
160 2.9
surcharge
31 5.5
late fee
10 3.1

Surface Forms

late fee singular
late fees plural

Morphology

late + fee

The meaning 'an extra charge added when payment is made after the due date' is directly and transparently derived from 'late' (after the expected time) modifying 'fee' (a sum paid), so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a charge for being late. This is a regular compositional noun phrase found across languages and follows standard English modifier + noun patterns, making it immediately comprehensible to B1 learners.

Etymology

The term late fee comes from joining late and fee. Late means 'after the due date' and a fee is extra money you must pay, so late fee means 'an extra charge for paying late'.