late

Meanings

Adjective

• Near the end of a period of time.
• Specifically, near the end of the day.
• Associated with the end of a period.
• Not arriving until after an expected time.
• Not having had an expected menstrual period.
• Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.
• Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
• Of a star or class of stars, cooler than the sun.

Noun

• A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.

Adverb

• After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
• Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.
• Not long ago; just now.

Related

Opposite words

• early

Origin

• From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt ("slow; slack, lax, negligent; late"), from Proto-Germanic *lataz ("slow, lazy").