the latter

noun

1

: the second one of two things or people that have been mentioned

Of these two options, the former is less expensive, while the latter is less risky.

2

: the last thing or person mentioned

Of chicken, fish, and meat, I like the latter best.

3

: the thing or person that has just been mentioned

The President—or, if the latter is too busy, the Vice President—will see you shortly.

Examples of the latter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Holland was ousted in 2020, when Sarandos combined English-language and international content under Bajaria (elevating the latter to the largest autonomous content job in the streamer’s history). — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026

Planet 1 pulls Planet 2 backward, stealing some of the latter’s orbital energy. — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 Oct. 2026

But the latter features a full sized numeric keypad and weighs less than two pounds, considerably lighter than most laptops. — Martin Cizmar, Time, 15 Oct. 2026

Built in the late 1950s, the lake contains a highly toxic stew of industrial chemicals with substantial amounts of radioactive thorium, the latter resulting primarily from the processing of monazite ores for rare-earths. — Glenn Zorpette, IEEE Spectrum, 15 Oct. 2026

Rhymes for the latter

• backscatter
• antimatter
• atter
• batter
• blatter
• catarrh
• chatter
• clatter
• fatter
• flatter
• hatter
• matter