belated

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 25, 2006 is: belated • \bih-LAY-tud\ • adjective 1 : delayed beyond the usual time 2 : existing or appearing past the normal or proper time Examples: Susan called Jim on Christmas and told him he'd be receiving a belated gift from her. 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." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.