Late vs Final - What's the difference?
late | final |
Near the end of a period of time.
Specifically, near the end of the day.
(usually, not used comparatively) Associated with the end of a period.
Not arriving until after an expected time.
Not having had an expected menstrual period.
(deceased)(not comparable, euphemistic) Deceased, dead:
* , chapter=12
, title= Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office.
Recent — relative to the noun it modifies.
* 1914 , (Robert Frost), (North of Boston) , "A Hundred Collars":
(informal) A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
* 2007 , Paul W Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue
After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.
:Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.
(US) A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.
(sports) The last round, game or match in a contest, after which the winner is determined.
A contest that narrows a field of contestants (finalists) to ranked positions, usually in numbered places (1st place/prize, 2nd place/prize, etc.) or a winner and numbered runners-up (1st runner-up, etc.).
(phonology) The final part of a syllable, the combination of medial and rime in phonetics and phonology.
(music) The tonic or keynote of a Gregorian mode, and hence the final note of any conventional melody played in that mode.
Last; ultimate.
:
*1671 , (John Milton), (Samson Agonistes)
*:Yet despair not of his final pardon.
Conclusive; decisive.
:
Respecting an end or object to be gained; respecting the purpose or ultimate end in view.
(lb) Expressing purpose; as in the term final clause.
(lb) Word-final, occurring at the end of a word.
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
Final is a synonym of late.
As adjectives the difference between late and final
is that late is near the end of a period of time while final is last; ultimate.As nouns the difference between late and final
is that late is a shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night while final is a final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.As an adverb late
is after a deadline has passed, past a designated time.late
English
Adjective
(er)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.}}
- 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
Usage notes
* (deceased) (term) in this sense is unusual among English adjectives in that it qualifies named individuals (in phrases like (term)) without creating a contrast with another Mary who is not late. Contrast (hungry): a phrase like (term) is usually only used if another Mary is under discussion who is not hungry.Noun
(en noun)- At about 11 pm one night in Corporation Street my watch were on van patrol and Yellow Watch were on lates as usual.
Adverb
(er)- We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late .