Late vs Last - What's the difference?
late | last |
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.
Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.
* , chapter=5
, title= Most recent, latest, last so far.
* {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
Farthest of all from a given quality, character, or condition; most unlikely, or least preferable.
Being the only one remaining of its class.
Supreme; highest in degree; utmost.
* R. Hall
Lowest in rank or degree.
The (one) immediately before the present.
(of a, day of the week) Closest to seven days (one week) ago.
Most recently.
* Shakespeare
(sequence) after everything else; finally
* Dryden
To perform, carry out.
(label) To endure, continue over time.
:
:
*
*:Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;.
(label) To hold out, continue undefeated or entire.
:
a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes
* 2006, Newman, Cathy, Every Shoe Tells a Story , National Geographic (September, 2006), 83,
To shape with a last; to fasten or fit to a last; to place smoothly on a last.
(obsolete) A burden; load; a cargo; freight.
(obsolete) A measure of weight or quantity, varying in designation depending on the goods concerned.
* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 114:
* 1866 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , Volume 1, page 169,
(obsolete) An old English (and Dutch) measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, equal to two tons.
* 1942 (1601) , T D Mutch,
A load of some commodity with reference to its weight and commercial value.
As adjectives the difference between late and last
is that late is near the end of a period of time while last is final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.As nouns the difference between late and last
is that late is a shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night while last is a tool for shaping or preserving the shape of shoes.As adverbs the difference between late and last
is that late is after a deadline has passed, past a designated time while last is most recently.As a determiner last is
the (one) immediately before the present.As a verb last is
to perform, carry out.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 .
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 laterReferences
* 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 ----last
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), syncopated variant of (m), from (etyl) latost, (m), , whence English (l).Adjective
(-)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
citation, passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year.}}
- He is the last person to be accused of theft.
- Contending for principles of the last importance.
- the last prize
- (Alexander Pope)
Synonyms
* (final) at the end, caboose, final, tail end, terminal, ultimate * (most recent) latest, most recentDerived terms
* last word * nice guys finish lastDeterminer
(en determiner)- Last night the moon was full.
- We went there last year.
- Last Tuesday was Hallowe'en.
- Last time we talked about this was in January.
- It's Wednesday, and the party was last Tuesday; that is, not yesterday, but eight days ago.
Usage notes
* (both senses) This cannot be used in past or future tense to refer to a time immediately before the subject matter. For example, one does not say or the like.Adverb
(-)- When we last met, he was based in Toronto.
- How long is't now since last yourself and I / Were in a mask?
- I'll go last .
- last but not least
- Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, / Adores; and, last , the thing adored desires.
Synonyms
* finally * lastlyEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)Synonyms
* continue * endure * surviveAntonyms
* disintegrate * dissipate * fall apart * wear outEtymology 3
(etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia last) (en noun)- How is an in-your-face black leather thigh-high lace-up boot with a four-inch spike heel like a man's black calf lace-up oxford? They are both made on a last , the wood or plastic foot-shaped form that leather is stretched over and shaped to make a shoe.
Derived terms
*Verb
(en verb)- to last a boot
Etymology 4
From (etyl) last, from (etyl) , (etyl) last, (etyl) Last, (etyl) last, (etyl) lest.Noun
(en noun)- Now we so quietly followed our businesse, that in three moneths wee made three or foure Last of Tarre, Pitch, and Sope ashes [...].
- The last of wool is twelve sacks.
The First Discovery of Australia, page 14,
- The tonnage of the of Harmensz's fleet is given as 25 and 30 lasten .