noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The state or quality of being belated or of being too late. uncountable, usually
2. 2
   Slowness; backwardness. uncountable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms

latenessbehindhandnesseleventh hourhigh timelast minutelentitude

Example

More examples

"She began her letter by entreating me to forgive the belatedness of her reply."

Etymology

From belated + -ness.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.