What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Late vs Lag - What's the difference?

late | lag |

As adjectives the difference between late and lag

is that late is near the end of a period of time while lag is late.

As nouns the difference between late and lag

is that late is (informal) a shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night or late can be (dialectal|or|obsolete) manner; behaviour; outward appearance or aspect while lag is (countable) a gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.

As a adverb late

is after a deadline has passed, past a designated time.

As a verb lag is

to fail to keep up (the pace), to fall behind.

late

English

Adjective

(er)
  • 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= 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.}}
  • 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":
  • 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)
  • (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
  • 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)
  • After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
  • We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late .
  • 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.
  • Derived terms

    * a day late and a dollar short * as of late * better late than never * * late bloomer * latecomer * late in the day * late in the game * lately * late night * later * sooner or later

    References

    * 2009 April 3, , "Re: Has 'late' split up into a pair of homonyms?", message-ID <bdb13686-a6e4-43cd-8445-efe353365394@l13g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, alt.usage.english'' and ''sci.lang , Usenet.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * * * * * 1000 English basic words ----

    lag

    English

    Adjective

  • late
  • * 1592 , William Shakespeare, King Richard III
  • Some tardy cripple bore the countermand, / That came too lag to see him buried.
  • (obsolete) Last; long-delayed.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the lag end of my life
  • Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior.
  • * Dryden
  • lag souls

    Noun

  • (countable) A gap, a delay; an interval created by something not keeping up; a latency.
  • * 2004 , May 10. The New Yorker Online,
  • During the Second World War, for instance, the Washington Senators had a starting rotation that included four knuckleball pitchers. But, still, I think that some of that was just a generational lag .
  • (uncountable) Delay; latency.
  • * 1999 , Loyd Case, Building the ultimate game PC
  • Whatever the symptom, lag is a drag. But what causes it? One cause is delays in getting the data from your PC to the game server.
  • * 2001 , Patricia M. Wallace, The psychology of the Internet
  • When the lag is low, 2 or 3 seconds perhaps, Internet chatters seem reasonably content.
  • * 2002 , Marty Cortinas, Clifford Colby, The Macintosh bible
  • Latency, or lag , is an unavoidable part of Internet gaming.
  • (British, slang, archaic) One sentenced to transportation for a crime.
  • (British, slang) a prisoner, a criminal.
  • * 1934 , , Thank You, Jeeves
  • On both these occasions I had ended up behind the bars, and you might suppose that an old lag like myself would have been getting used to it by now.
  • (snooker) A method of deciding which player shall start. Both players simultaneously strike a cue ball from the baulk line to hit the top cushion and rebound down the table; the player whose ball finishes closest to the baulk cushion wins.
  • One who lags; that which comes in last.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • the lag of all the flock
  • The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the common lag of people
  • A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (engineering) one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, such as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or steam engine.
  • A bird, the greylag.
  • Usage notes

    In casual use, lag' and (latency) are used synonymously for “delay between initiating an action and the effect”, with '''lag''' more casual. In formal use, ''latency'' is the technical term, while ' lag is used when latency is greater than usual, particularly in internet gaming.

    Synonyms

    * (delay) latency

    Derived terms

    * time lag * jet lag * lagging jacket * lag screw

    Verb

    (lagg)
  • to fail to keep up (the pace), to fall behind
  • * 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Canto I
  • Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag , / That lasie seemd in being ever last, / Or wearied with bearing of her bag / Of needments at his backe.
  • * 1616 , George Chapman, The Odysseys of Homer
  • Lazy beast! / Why last art thou now? Thou hast never used / To lag thus hindmost
  • * 1717 , The Metamorphoses of Ovid translated into English verse under the direction of Sir Samuel Garth by John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, William Congreve and other eminent hands
  • While he, whose tardy feet had lagg'd behind, / Was doom'd the sad reward of death to find.
  • * 1798 , Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in seven parts
  • Brown skeletons of leaves that lag / My forest-brook along
  • * 2004 , — The New Yorker, 5 April 2004
  • Over the next fifty years, by most indicators dear to economists, the country remained the richest in the world. But by another set of numbers—longevity and income inequality—it began to lag behind Northern Europe and Japan.
  • to cover (for example, pipes) with felt strips or similar material
  • * c. 1974 , , The Building
  • Outside seems old enough: / Red brick, lagged pipes, and someone walking by it / Out to the car park, free.
  • (UK, slang, archaic) To transport as a punishment for crime.
  • * De Quincey
  • She lags us if we poach.
  • To cause to lag; to slacken.
  • * Heywood
  • To lag his flight.

    Derived terms

    * lagging * laggard

    See also

    * tardy

    Anagrams

    * * ----