Later

//ˈleɪ.tə// adj, adv, intj, slang

adj, adv, intj, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    comparative form of late: more late comparative, form-of

    "Jim was later than John."

  2. 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. 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. 4
    At some time in the future.

    "The meeting was adjourned to a later date."

Adjective
  1. 1
    coming at a subsequent time or stage wordnet
  2. 2
    at or toward an end or late period or stage of development wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    comparative form of late: more late comparative, form-of

    "You came in late yesterday and today you came in even later."

  2. 2
    Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).

    "My roommate arrived first. I arrived later."

  3. 3
    At some unspecified time in the future.

    "I wanted to do it now, but I’ll have to do it later."

  4. 4
    What if (something problematic or unanticipated happens); if not (something undesirable will happen). Manglish, Singlish

    "Compare Malay nanti (“later; if not”)"

Adverb
  1. 1
    happening at a time subsequent to a reference time wordnet
  2. 2
    at some eventual time in the future wordnet
  3. 3
    comparative of the adverb ‘late’ wordnet
Intj
  1. 1
    See you later; goodbye. slang

    "Later, dude."

Synonyms

All synonyms
by and bylatesubsequentlysucceeding-to-beafter

Example

More examples

"Could you call again later, please?"

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 (“later”), West Frisian letter (“later”), Dutch later (“later”), German Low German later (“later”).

Related phrases

I kill you latercatch you laterlater dayslater onno later thansave for latershoot first and ask questions latersmell ya latersmell you latersooner or latersooner rather than latersooner than later

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