adjective
- coming or being after the customary, useful, or expected time: belated birthday greetings.
- late, delayed, or detained: We started the meeting without the belated representative.
- Archaic. obsolete; old-fashioned; out-of-date: a belated view of world politics.
- Archaic. overtaken by darkness or night.
adjective
- late or too latebelated greetings
1610s, “overtaken by night,” past participle adjective from belate “to make late, detain,” from be- + late. Sense of “coming past due, behind date” is from 1660s. Related: Belatedly.