later
Etymology
  • Adverb: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lator, equivalent to late + -er.
  • Adjective: From Middle English later, latere, from Old English lætra, equivalent to late + -er.

    Cognate with Saterland Frisian leeter, Western Frisian letter, Dutch later, nds-de later.

Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈleɪtə/
  • (America) enPR: lāʹtər, IPA: /ˈleɪtɚ/, [ˈleɪ̯ɾɚ]
Adverb
  1. comparative form of late
    You came in late yesterday and today you came in even later.
  2. Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).
    My roommate arrived first. I arrived later.
    I arrived later than my roommate.
  3. At some unspecified time in the future.
    I wanted to do it now, but I’ll have to do it later.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • earlier
  • (antonym(s) of “At some unspecified time in the future”): once
Translations
  • French: plus en retard
  • German: später
  • Italian: più in ritardo
  • Portuguese: mais atrasado
  • Russian: по́зже
  • Spanish: más tarde
Translations Translations Adjective
  1. comparative form of late
    Jim was later than John.
  2. Coming afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).
    The Victorian era is a later period of English history than the Elizabethan era.
  3. Coming afterward in distance (following an antecedent distance as embedded within an adverbial phrase)
    I felt some leg pain during the first mile of my run and I strained my calf two miles later.
  4. At some time in the future.
    The meeting was adjourned to a later date.
Antonyms Translations
  • French: plus en retard
  • Italian: più in ritardo
  • Portuguese: mais tarde
  • Spanish: más tarde
Translations Translations Interjection
  1. (slang) See you later; goodbye.
    Later, dude.
Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary