late
LATE scores 4 points in Scrabble, rearranges into five words, TALE, TEAL, TELA, LEAT and TAEL, and sits one letter from 24 neighbours.
Adjective 4 meanings
Near the end of a period of time.
“The seedlings appeared to be coming along nicely until a late frost killed them.”
Specifically, near the end of the day.
“It was getting late and I was tired.”
Associated with the end of a period.
“Late Latin is less fully inflected than Classical Latin.”
Not arriving or occurring until after an expected time.
“The flowers were late in blooming because of the prolonged cold weather.”
Noun 1 meaning
A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place late in the day or at night.
Adverb 3 meanings
After a deadline has passed, past a designated time.
“We drove as fast as we could, but we still arrived late.”
Formerly, especially in the context of service in a military unit.
“Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.”
Not long ago; just now, recently.
Etymology
From Middle English late, lat, from Old English læt (“slow; slack, lax, negligent; late”), from Proto-West Germanic *lat, from Proto-Germanic *lataz (“slow, lazy”). By surface analysis, deverbal from let.
Similar and opposite words
LATE means near the end of a period, specifically near the end of the day, and it can also name a shift worked in the evening or night. At rank 431 it is a daily-use word. For tile players it is a four-point word with a very wide net of relatives.
LATE at a glance
- Four letters: L, A, T, E, each worth 1 point.
- Anagrams: TALE, TEAL, TELA, LEAT and TAEL.
- Twenty-four neighbours, including DATE, RATE, HATE, LAKE and LANE.
- Frequency rank 431, count 191,989.
What can you make from the letters of LATE?
Five other words. TALE and TEAL are everyday words; TELA, LEAT and TAEL are not. All five use the same four tiles and all score 4, so you pick by board position, not points.
A rack that holds L, A, T and E is therefore a flexible one: six plays from a single set of tiles.
Very few four-letter words give you that much choice. If the board blocks TALE, the same tiles still fit TEAL or LATE, so you rarely have to pass or swap.
Which words are one letter away from LATE?
There are 24. DATE, RATE, HATE, LAKE, LANE and MATE show the pattern. Changing the first tile gives the -ATE family, and changing the third tile opens words like LAKE and LANE.
Scores shift with the replacement tile. HATE reaches 7, since H is worth 4, and LAKE reaches 8 for the K.
DATE reaches 5. Together they show that a swap can add up to 4 points, so pick the neighbour that suits the premium squares.
How does LATE fit the four-letter list?
The standout pattern is the ending: 700 of the 5,577 four-letter words close with E, about 13 percent, against 279 that open with L, about 5 percent. The -ATE tail matches STATE, DATE, PRIVATE, RATE and HATE in spelling. Check your game’s word list before playing TELA, LEAT or TAEL.
Rhymes with late
All rhymesOne letter away
Questions people ask
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