Qualities
Synonyms for late
Synonyms for late: former, tardy and belated. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.
The 3 synonyms for late
Interchangeable with late, one per sense
Audited under late's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one late carries in that sense.
- formeradjective, in the sense "of the immediate past"
- tardyadjective, in the sense "after the expected or usual time"
Recorded from the other side of the pair
These entries were written under the other word and name late as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.
- belatedbelated is an adjective in the sense "coming later than expected or than it should have"
Two directions, one standard: two audited under late and one under the partner word. Nothing here was expanded out of a thesaurus.
of the immediate past
Our late President is still very active.
The true synonym
former
Same sentence, swapped: Our former President is still very active.
Close but different
The game shows these three beside the answer. Each is a real word with a real meaning and none of them fits the slot late is in above, which is the point the reason line makes.
- tardy
- behind
- dead
after the expected or usual time
The train is late.
The true synonym
tardy
Same sentence, swapped: The train is tardy.
Close but different
Wrong tiles, chosen to be tempting rather than absurd. The reason line above takes the nearest one apart; the rest fail the same sentence for their own reasons.
- former
- recent
- gone
Where late turns up in the game
late is the word under test in two puzzles, spread across two difficulty tiers. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in one other puzzle, where the answer is a different word entirely.
The puzzle where late is the trap
- coldadjective, Tier 3, Ridgeline. The answer there is inhuman, in the sense "without compunction or human feeling", and late is one of the three tiles that lose.
Play late
The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so late reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.
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The ring widens as it goes, from qualities at Foothills outward to the whole bank.
Why the near miss missed, in the game as well as here
Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. late carries 2 written reason lines, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.