• 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”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.tə/
• (US) enPR: lāʹtər, IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.tɚ/, [ˈleɪ̯.ɾɚ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

later

1. comparative form of late: more late

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

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

   My roommate arrived first. I arrived later.

   I arrived later than my roommate.

3. At some unspecified time in the future.

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

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

   Compare Malay nanti (“later; if not”)

   Synonym: (Singlish) sekali

   Later you fall asleep how? ― What if you fall asleep?

• (afterward in time): afterwards, hereafter; see also Thesaurus:subsequently
• (at some unspecified time in the future): later on, someday; see also Thesaurus:one day

• earlier
• (antonym(s) of “At some unspecified time in the future”): once

later

1. comparative form of late: more late

   Jim was later than John.

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.

   • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:

     The eldest son was usually given the name of his paternal grandfather, later children those of other relatives.

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. At some time in the future.

   The meeting was adjourned to a later date.

• earlier

later

1. (slang) See you later; goodbye.

   Later, dude.

• Alert, alert, alter, alter-, altre, artel, ratel, taler, telar

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaː.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːtər

later

1. comparative degree of laat
2. having to do with or occurring in the future

Declension of later
uninflected	later
inflected	latere
comparative	—
positive
predicative/adverbial		later
indefinite	m./f. sing.	latere
	n. sing.	later
	plural	latere
definite		latere
partitive		laters

• eerder
• vroeger

later

1. later
2. in the future

• eerder

later

1. bye, later

   Synonyms: dag, doei, doeg, houdoe, tabee, vaarwel

• alert, ratel

Uncertain.

• Perhaps cognate to latus, lateris n (“side, flank”), itself of uncertain origin, but perhaps related to lateō, from *leh₂- (“to be concealed”).^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫa.tɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlaː.ter]

later m (genitive lateris); third declension

1. brick, tile
2. ingot, bar (of precious metal)

Third-declension noun.

• “later”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “later”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “later”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “later”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “later”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Bern, München: Francke Verlag

From French terre.

later

1. land, earth, soil

later

1. present of late

From Old Norse latr, from Proto-Germanic *lataz.

later

1. lazy, sluggish

• Swedish: lat

later

1. first/second/third-person singular present active indicative of lata

From French terre.

later

1. land, earth, soil

later

1. indefinite plural of lat

• alert, artel, letar, realt

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