Meanings
- not comparableIn the past, but close (or closer) to the present time.
In his latter years my dad became very absent-minded.
1 more example
Hath not navigation discovered in these latter ages, whole nations at the bay of Soldania […]?
1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLCSynonyms: later
- singularsingular onlyThe second of aforementioned two items.
The archaic past participle shapen is only used in misshapen, ill-shapen, and well-shapen (the latter two are much less common, though).
3 more examples
the difference between reason and revelation, and in what sense the latter is superior
1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLCOn sale next to dried fish and chicken feet were rats and bats (the latter's wings in a pile like leather scraps, also for sale), plus cut-up pigs and monkeys, their faces intact.
2017 March 28, Jennifer S. Holland, “For These Monkeys, It’s a Fight for Survival.”, in National Geographic, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2025Ramsay and Lil Nas X’s panini party comes less than two weeks after the latter had jokingly asked the “Masterchef” star to make a guest appearance on the remix of his latest single, “Panini.”
2019 July 5, Michael Bartiromo, “Gordon Ramsay and Lil Nas X meet up to make panini sandwiches, play with knives”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2019
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIn the past, but close (or closer) to the present time.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivereferring to the second of two things or persons mentioned (or the last one or ones of several)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishlætra
- Middle Englishlatter
- Englishlatter
From Middle English latter, lattere, lattre, from Old English lætra, comparative form of læt (“late”). Equivalent to late + -er, thus a doublet of later; also, related to last, whose doublet is latest.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian на второ място, неотдавнашен
- на второ място (na vtoro mjasto)relating to or being the second of two items
- неотдавнашен (neotdavnašen)close (or closer) to the present time
Catalan segon, ponent
- segonrelating to or being the second of two items
- ponentrelating to or being the second of two items
Chinese Mandarin 後者 /后者
- 後者 /后者 (hòuzhě)relating to or being the second of two items
Dutch laatstgenoemd, laatste
- laatstgenoemdrelating to or being the second of two items
- laatstenear (or nearer) to the end
- jongstledenclose (or closer) to the present time
- dichtsbijzijndeclose (or closer) to the present time
Esperanto lasta, ĉi-lasta
- lastarelating to or being the second of two items
- ĉi-lastarelating to or being the second of two items
Finnish jälkimmäinen, jäljempi
- jälkimmäinenrelating to or being the second of two items
- jäljempirelating to or being the second of two items
- jäljempinear (or nearer) to the end
- myöhempiclose (or closer) to the present time
French ce dernier, ce dernier
- ce dernierrelating to or being the second of two items
- ce derniernear (or nearer) to the end
- dernierclose (or closer) to the present time
German letzterer, zweiter
- letztererrelating to or being the second of two items
- zweiterrelating to or being the second of two items
- letzterenear (or nearer) to the end
- letzterclose (or closer) to the present time
Hungarian utóbbi, második
- utóbbirelating to or being the second of two items
- másodikrelating to or being the second of two items
- későbbinear (or nearer) to the end
- hátrébb lévőnear (or nearer) to the end
- utóbbiclose (or closer) to the present time
- újabbclose (or closer) to the present time
Italian secondo, quest'ultimo
- secondorelating to or being the second of two items
- quest'ultimorelating to or being the second of two items
Japanese 後者
- 後者 (kōsha)relating to or being the second of two items
Korean 후자
- 후자 (huja)relating to or being the second of two items
Māori mātāmuri
- mātāmurinear (or nearer) to the end
Norwegian sist
- sistnear (or nearer) to the end
Norwegian Bokmål sistnevnt
- sistnevntrelating to or being the second of two items
Persian دومی
- دومی (dovvomi)relating to or being the second of two items
Polish drugi (z dwóch), późniejszy
- drugi (z dwóch)relating to or being the second of two items
- późniejszynear (or nearer) to the end
- końcowynear (or nearer) to the end
- ostatninear (or nearer) to the end
- ostatniclose (or closer) to the present time
Portuguese segundo, último
- segundorelating to or being the second of two items
- últimorelating to or being the second of two items
- esterelating to or being the second of two items
Russian второ́й, после́дний
- второ́й (vtorój)relating to or being the second of two items
- после́дний (poslédnij)near (or nearer) to the end
- после́дний (poslédnij)close (or closer) to the present time
- бо́лее по́здний (bóleje pózdnij)close (or closer) to the present time
Spanish (el) segundo, éste
- (el) segundorelating to or being the second of two items
- ésterelating to or being the second of two items
- estorelating to or being the second of two items
- (este) últimorelating to or being the second of two items
Swedish sistnämnda, andra
- sistnämndarelating to or being the second of two items
- andrarelating to or being the second of two items
- senarerelating to or being the second of two items
Vietnamese sau, thứ hai
- saurelating to or being the second of two items
- thứ hairelating to or being the second of two items
- thứ nhìrelating to or being the second of two items
- sau cùngnear (or nearer) to the end
- gần đâyclose (or closer) to the present time
- mới đâyclose (or closer) to the present time
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with latter
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
latter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latter
“latter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latter. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “latter,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latter.
Source: latter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.