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Glite Dictionary
motherfunking late

motherfunking late

9.9
Arriving much later than expected and making people angry
  • adjective
  • /ˈmʌðərˌfʌŋkɪŋ leɪt/
  • Offensive
translation icon : jodidamente tarde
  • You're motherfunking late for the meeting!

Examples

  • The bus was motherfunking late and everyone was furious.

  • She made a motherfunking late entrance to the party, turning every head.

  • He was motherfunking late again for the meeting.

  • Why are you motherfunking late again?

  • He arrived motherfunking late to his own wedding, causing a stir among the guests.

  • The train was motherfunking late again, and commuters were losing their patience.

  • After being motherfunking late to work for the third time this week, she decided to leave earlier tomorrow.

Synonyms

late
vsmotherfunking late
∞ 1.0

Arriving after the usual or expected time

is much stronger and vulgar used to stress extreme lateness
tardy
vsmotherfunking late
25 3.9

Arriving or happening later than expected

is more intense and crude in informal speech
belated
vsmotherfunking late
18 4.4

Happening or arriving later than expected

is used to add strong vulgar emphasis about extreme delay
behind time
vsmotherfunking late
  • Indian
1 3.2

Not arriving or starting at the expected time

is far stronger rude and used for very delayed arrivals

Antonyms

on time
321 1.0

At the expected time

punctual
27 3.2

On time for a meeting or event

How Late

motherfunking late
  • Offensive
9.9
late
∞ 1.0
tardy
25 3.9
on time
321 1.0

Surface Forms

motherfunking late positive

Morphology

motherfunking + late

The adjective 'late' gives the core, compositional meaning (after the expected time), and the whole phrase functions as an emphatic intensification of that meaning. However, 'motherfunking' is a vulgar, non-standard expletive/intensifier that is not compositionally derivable from its apparent parts and carries pragmatic force (strong emphasis, profanity) rather than a new semantic relation, so a B1 learner would likely grasp the idea of extreme lateness but not be able to fully predict or normalize the intensifier from the constituents alone.

Etymology

Motherfunking late comes from people putting a very strong swear, softened here as motherfunking, before late to make the meaning much stronger. So the phrase is a very informal, rude way to say 'extremely late'.