belated

adjective be·lat·ed \ bi-ˈlā-təd , bē- \

Updated on: 12 Apr 2018

Definition of belated

1 : delayed beyond the usual time

One of the men was belated and did not join us at all.
—William Pittenger

2 : existing or appearing past the normal or proper time

a belated birthday card

She received belated recognition for her work.

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belatedly

adverb

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belatedness

noun

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See belated defined for kids

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Examples of belated in a Sentence

She received belated recognition for her scientific discovery.

Recent Examples of belated from the Web

Akaka sponsored a 1996 bill to bestow the belated honors on the men.

— erin kelly, USA TODAY, "Retired Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii dies at 93," 6 Apr. 2018
Credit their resilience, credit belated guilt on the part of whites, credit the creative tension embodied in the struggle between John Ross and The Ridge—but a 10-fold increase in numbers is no small thing.

— h.w. brands, WSJ, "The Cherokee vs. the Cherokee," 5 Apr. 2018
Give him a few points for a belated show of social conscience.

— peter keough, BostonGlobe.com, "An unhappy family gets little love in ‘Happy End’," 14 Mar. 2018
Look for Trump to soon send Russia a belated condolence card for Stalin's passing.

— jeff darcy, cleveland.com, "Stormy Sunday threatens Trump power outage: Darcy cartoon," 23 Mar. 2018
The quirkily probing violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her belated SoCal debut big time at this year’s festival.

— mark swed, latimes.com, "From Schubert to Nina Simone? The spring classical calendar is full of surprises," 22 Mar. 2018
As Vox’s Tara Golshan has reported, the White House made a belated effort to insist on using the omnibus to target sanctuary cities.

— dara lind, Vox, "The omnibus bill shows Republicans are losing interest in sticking up for Trump on immigration," 22 Mar. 2018
The release also prompted a frenzied, if belated, public fight over who was responsible for the operation — chiefly between former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister at the time, Ehud Barak.

— isabel kershner, New York Times, "Ending Secrecy, Israel Says It Bombed Syrian Reactor in 2007," 21 Mar. 2018
Hellmann, a 41-year-old real estate broker, vanished while on a belated honeymoon with Bennett.

— chris harris, PEOPLE.com, "Husband of Florida Mom Who Vanished at Sea During Boating Trip Is Charged With Murder," 20 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'belated.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Long ago, there was a verb "belate," which meant "to make late." From the beginning, "belate" tended to mostly turn up in the form of its past participle "belated." Eventually, "belate" itself fell out of use, leaving behind "belated" as an adjective that preserved the original notion of delay. As you may have guessed, "belate" and its descendant "belated" derive from the adjective "late"; "belate" was formed by simply combining the prefix be- ("to cause to be") with "late."