late – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of late

Adjective: late

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativelater
Superlativelatest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

  • The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.
  • The meeting is convened for late morning.
  • In Southern U.S., "evening" is used for middle to late afternoon.
  • It was getting late and I was tired.
  • Late Latin is less fully inflected than Classical Latin.
  • The flowers were late in blooming because of the prolonged cold weather.
  • Panos was so late that he arrived at the meeting after Antonio, who had the excuse of being in hospital for most of the night.
  • The heavy snow made all the trains late.
  • The power company suspended late fees during the pandemic.
  • I'm late, honey. Could you buy a test?
  • 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):]
  • Her late husband had left her well provided for.
  • Mary was entitled to the crown by her late father’s testament.
  • 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:]
  • the late bishop of London
  • the late administration
  • By Edvvard Reynoldes, late Preacher to the Honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inne: And now Rector of the Church of Braunſton in Northamptonſhire. [1640, Edvvard Reynoldes, A Treatise of the Passions and Facvlties of the Soul of Man. With the severall Dignities and Corruptions thereunto belonging., London: […] R. H. for Robert Bostock, […]:]
  • It was a lonely place enough, even in all its rustic beauty, for so bright a creature as the late Miss Lucy Graham, but the generous baronet had transformed the interior of the gray old mansion into a little palace for his young wife, and Lady Audley seemed as happy as a child surrounded by new and costly toys. [1862, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret:]
  • the late war
  • OLd Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaſter,
  • Haſt thou according to thy oath and band
  • Brought hither Henry Herford thy bold ſon:
  • Heere to make good yͤ boiſtrous late appeale,
  • Which then our leyſure would not let vs heare,
  • Againſt the Duke of Norfolke, Thomas Mowbray? [1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1:]
  • Lancaster bore him—such a little town, / Such a great man. It doesn't see him often / Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead / And sends the children down there with their mother[…] [1914, Robert Frost, “A Hundred Collars”, in North of Boston:]

Adjectives inflected like late

scarce, smoove, sombre, wholsome, sheene, bolshie, baroque, concrete, seveare, comf'table, shrewde, 'umble, grislie, unsubtle, ungentle, indiscrete, couthie, chavvie, lissome, cutesie, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. 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.
2. Cognates
3. 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”). See: Swedish Adjectives 'lat', Gothic Adjectives '𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃'.

Verbs referencing "late"

German Adjectives lässig, German Adjectives letzte.