What does late mean?

What does late mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does late mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[a] being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time(late evening late 18th century a late movie took a late flight had a late breakfast)[r] later than usual or than expected(the train arrived late we awoke late the children came late to school notice came

late

late - The Free Dictionary

[a] being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
(late evening late 18th century a late movie took a late flight had a late breakfast)

[r] later than usual or than expected
(the train arrived late we awoke late the children came late to school notice came so tardily that we almost missed the deadline I belatedly wished her a happy birthday)

[a] after the expected or usual time; delayed
(a belated birthday card I'm late for the plane the train is late tardy children are sent to the principal always tardy in making dental appointments)

[r] to an advanced time
(deep into the night talked late into the evening)

[a] of the immediate past or just previous to the present time
(a late development their late quarrel his recent trip to Africa in recent months a recent issue of the journal)

[r] at an advanced age or stage
(she married late undertook the project late in her career)

[a] having died recently
(her late husband)

[r] in the recent past
(he was in Paris recently lately the rules have been enforced as late as yesterday she was fine feeling better of late the spelling was first affected, but latterly the meaning also)

[a] of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages
(Late Greek)

[a] at or toward an end or late period or stage of development
(the late phase of feudalism a later symptom of the disease later medical science could have saved the child)

[a] (used especially of persons) of the immediate past
(the former president our late President is still very active the previous occupant of the White House)

Other vocabulary

l, l'aquila, l'enfant, l-dopa, l-p, l-plate, l-shaped, l. m. montgomery, l. monocytogenes, l. ron hubbard, l. s. lowry, la, la crosse, la fayette, la fontaine, la paz, la plata, la rochefoucauld, la spezia, la tour, la-di-da, laager, lab, lab bench, lab coat, laban, labanotation, labdanum, label, labeled, a, a battery, a bit, a capella singing, a cappella, a cappella singing, a couple of, a few, a fortiori, a good deal, a great deal, a horizon, a hundred times, a kempis, a la carte, a la mode, a level, a little, a lot, a million times, a posteriori, a priori, a trifle, a'man, a-bomb, a-horizon, a-line, a-list, a-ok, a-okay

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.