lateness

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Coming after the expected time

Nouns

1. lateness, tardiness, slowness, unpunctuality; delay, procrastination, deferring, deferment, postponement, adjournment, prorogation, retardation, respite; protraction, prolongation.

2. stop, stay, continuation, reprieve, moratorium; waiting list, rain check; afterthought; hang-up; lag (see sequence).

3. Johnny-come-lately, Monday-morning quarterback.

Verbs

1. be late, tarry, wait, stay, bide, take time; dawdle, [dilly-]dally, linger, loiter, stick around, take one's time, drag one's feet or heels, gain time, bide one's time; hang fire, stand over, lie over; fall or get behind.

2. put off, defer, delay, lay over or aside, shelve, suspend, stave off, waive, retard, remand, postpone, put over, put on ice, adjourn, procrastinate, spin or draw out, prorogue, hold or keep back, tide over, temporize, play for time, get in under the wire, sleep on it; stand up, keep waiting, hold up.

3. lose an opportunity, be kept waiting, dance attendance; cool one's heels, [a]wait; miss or lose out, miss the boat or bus. Slang, sweat it out.

Adjectives — late, tardy, slow, behindhand, belated, backward, unpunctual, dilatory, delayed, delaying, procrastinating, in abeyance, on the shelf; on hold; untimely; eleventh-hour.

Adverbs — late, backward; late in the day, at the eleventh hour, at length, ultimately, finally, behind time, too late, after hours, ex post facto; in arrears (see debt); later on; slowly, leisurely, deliberately, at one's leisure; in the nick of time, about time; down to the wire; better late than never; on the back burner.

Interjections — too late! now or never!

Phrases — delays are dangerous; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today; procrastination is the thief of time; he who hesitates is lost; it is no use crying over spilt milk; it is too late to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted; better late than never.

Quotations — Never do today what you can do as well tomorrow (Aaron Burr), Delay is preferable to error (Thomas Jefferson), He who hesitates is sometimes saved (James Thurber).

Antonyms, see earliness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. belatedness, tardiness, retardation, protraction, prolongation, slowness, backwardness, advanced hour, late date; see also delay 1 .

Ant. anticipation*, earliness, promptness.

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun The quality or condition of not being on time: belatedness, tardiness. See TIME.