latter

adjective

Form of lat , comparative of lat.

Simple meaning

Referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

later

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IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlætɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned (or the last one or ones of several)
Relating to or being the second of two items.
Near (or nearer) to the end.
In the past, but close (or closer) to the present time.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned (or the last one or ones of several)

Used this way, latter is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use latter

“Tom and Dick were both heroes but only the latter is remembered today.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

latter partlatter caselatter halflatter two

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

lattenounBase word
Strong espresso coffee with a topping of frothed steamed milk.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

latter-day saintnounCompound term
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
church of jesus christ of latter-day saintsnounCompound term
Church founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.