Belated what does it mean

First Known Use of belated , in the meaning defined at sense 1. History and Etymology for belated past participle of belate to make late. Learn More About belated.

Time Traveler for belated The first known use of belated was in See more words from the same year. Listen to Our Podcast About belated. Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. Statistics for belated Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA. English Language Learners Definition of belated. Kids Definition of belated. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

What is the pronunciation of belated? Browse belaboured. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day kind-hearted. About this. Blog Outsets and onsets! Read More. November 08, To top. English American Examples Translations. Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content:. Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge.

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Follow us. Choose a dictionary. It comes up in two variants— happy belated birthday , and belated happy birthday. The word belated means that something is late or delayed.

Greetings can be late, however, so it makes much more sense to say late happy birthday , which is why belated happy birthday is the correct formulation. When you write the greeting correctly, belated modifies the phrase happy birthday. When you write it incorrectly, happy modifies the phrase belated birthday.