Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Being the second of two persons or things mentioned.
- adjective Near or nearer to the end.
- adjective Further advanced in time or sequence; later.
- noun The second of two persons or things mentioned.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Later; more advanced or more recent; nearer to the close or to the present time: as, the latter part of the day, or of one's life; in these latter days.
- Coming after another person or thing in consideration or relation; being the second of two or of a dual division in order of existence or of mention: opposed to former: as, I prefer the latter proposition to the former.
- Last; latest; final.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Later; more recent; coming or happening after something else; -- opposed to
former . - adjective Of two things, the one mentioned second.
- adjective Recent; modern.
- adjective rare Last; latest; final.
- adjective the last part of the harvest.
- adjective the last part of the spring of the year.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective relating to or being the
second oftwo items - adjective near (or nearer) to the
end - adjective close (or closer) to the
present time
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective referring to the second of two things or persons mentioned (or the last one or ones of several)
- noun the second of two or the second mentioned of two
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The latter regarded the former as inftru - ments of power* wifliing ro pay their court to the Mother Countiyf by curbing the fpirit of American freedom* and the fornex kept a flridl eye on the latter* left they might fmooth the way to independency* at which they were charged, with aiming.
An historical, geographical, commercial, and philosophical view of the American United States Winterbotham, William, 1763-1829. [from old catalog] 1795
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If my read of my neighbors plate is accurate, the latter translates as cold hash browns.
Epicurious.com: New Recipes John T. Edge 2010
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Luckily for us lazy Linux geeks the latter is automagically put in if you use tab auto-completion.
Move Files Without Breaking Stuff | Lifehacker Australia 2009
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But the faculty of judgment normally prevents us from falling into mere free - association mode: the latter is the stuff of paranoia and conspiracy theories.
Archive 2009-08-01 2009
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Henrik Pont̩n (Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau), Monique Wadsted (movie industry lawyer) and Peter Danowsky (IFPI) Рthe latter is also a member of the board of the association.
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With (500) Days, Sin Nombre and A Serious Man in competition, Precious really didn't deserve to win either best film or best director (the latter is a total joke, the directing was by far the weakest part of the movie, I mean, compare that to the job that the Coens did)
Precious Sweeps the 25th Independent Spirit Awards | /Film 2010
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You seem to be confusing Congress exercising direct willpower over the world versus merely exercising direct willpower over itself, and the latter is actually something it can straightforwardly do.
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Furthermore, if the latter is the case then other retailers are benefitting from Wal Mart's higher tax payments.
The Economics of Wage Labor, Michael Munger | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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* It's easier to prove a global warming trend than "changing the climate" since the latter is a convoluted concept.
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Furthermore, if the latter is the case then other retailers are benefitting from Wal Mart's higher tax payments.
The Economics of Wage Labor, Michael Munger | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
qroqqa commented on the word latter
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
—Tennyson, 'The Kraken Wakes'
In OED sense 3. a.: "last"; used here in reference to future time. It is odd that the OED doesn't use this line as a quotation for this sense.
July 15, 2008