belated

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈleɪtɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

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belated

1. simple past and past participle of belate

belated (comparative more belated, superlative most belated)

1. Later in relation to the proper time something should have happened.

   Happy belated birthday!

   • 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     England manager Roy Hodgson instantly restored Rooney after a two-match suspension in place of Andy Carroll with orders to make a belated mark on the campaign after sitting out the draw against France and victory against Sweden.

2. Lacking education or sophistication.
   • 1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan, →OCLC, page 27:

     The devil drives the world, whip in hand, — and oddly enough (considering that some belated folk still fancy there is a God somewhere) succeeds in managing his team with extraordinary ease!

• (late): tardy, late, overdue
• (lacking sophistication): uneducated, unsophisticated, benighted, backward

• beadlet, bleated, debleat