Late Meaning
/leɪt/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNear the end of a period of time.
adjSpecifically, near the end of the day.
Sentence Examples
What keeps you up so late?
I was late to school.
His parents won't allow him to stay out late.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because his alarm did not ring, John was ____ for the important morning meeting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I am very sorry for being ____ to the meeting, but the traffic on the main road was much heavier than usual.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let. Cognates Cognate with Yola laate (“late”), North Frisian leed, leet, lääs (“late”), Saterland Frisian leet (“late”), Dutch, German Low German laat (“late, tardy”), Danish lad (“languid, lazy, indolent”), Faroese, Icelandic latur (“lazy”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lat (“lazy”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “lazy, slothful”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I am very worried. I am never late."
— 1992 February 5, Larry Charles, Elaine Pope, “The Fix-Up”, in Seinfeld, spoken by Cynthia (Maggie Wheeler):
"To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 181:
"This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies!"
— 1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese):
"Mark’s late wife, Gemma, was an educator as well. Russian literature."
— 2022 February 18, Dan Erickson, “Good News About Hell”, in Severance, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Ricken (Michael Chernus):
"“He is not my ‘late husband’. He is my husband,” she said, before discussing how the couple had managed to retain their independent identities while together."
— 2022 December 14, Nadia Khomami, quoting Iman, “‘He’s not my “late” husband’: Iman speaks of grief over death of David Bowie”, in The Guardian:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because his alarm did not ring, John was ____ for the important morning meeting.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I am very sorry for being ____ to the meeting, but the traffic on the main road was much heavier than usual.