lately
Syllables: late·ly/ˈleɪt.li/
lately adverb: recently; not long ago; of late; not long since.
Adverb
lately (comparative latelier or more lately, superlative lateliest or most lately)
- Recently; not long ago; of late; not long since.
- I'd lately returned from Japan.
- It's only lately that I've been well enough to get out of bed.
- In a late manner; after-the-fact.
- Don't try to come lately and change your answer now after you've heard everyone else's response.
- Formerly.
- David George Philip Cholmondeley, The Marquess of CHOLMONDELEY, K.C.V.O., lately Lord Great Chamberlain, Royal Household.2023, “Honours list on the demise of HM Queen Elizabeth II”, in London Gazette, number 64008, page D2
- The ¼th of the manor of Dunterdon is held of the king by knight's service as of his honour of Okehampton, now in the king's hands by reason of the atteinture of Henry lately Marquis of Exeter for high treason, and is worth 55s 6d yearly.1545, Inquisition post mortem of John Arundell of Lanherne knight's lands in Devon
lately meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
lately in Tamil
- அணுக்கத்தில், அண்மைக்காலத்தில், நெருக்கத்தில்
lately in Marathi
- lately, nowadays, these days
- सध्या sadhyā
lately in Urdu
- lately, recently, just, just now
- ابھی abhī
lately in Bengali
- lately, recently
- ইদানীং idaniṅ
More languagesFewer languages
- lately in Malayalam
- അടുത്തയിടയ്ക്ക്, ഈയിടെ, അടുത്തകാലത്ത്
Examples of lately in a sentence
- I love doing puzzles, especially crosswords, but lately I've taken to sudokus too.
- They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.
- My boss surprised me into admitting I'd been leaving work early lately.
Synonyms of lately
Forms of lately
| comparative | latelier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more lately |
| superlative | lateliest |
| superlative | most lately |
Origin of lately
From Middle English lately, latly, equivalent to late + -ly. Compare Old English lætlīċe (“slowly, tardily”), Middle Low German lātlîk (“careless, slack, sloppy”).
Words formed from lately
Words that rhyme with lately
Questions about lately
- What does lately mean?
- Lately means recently; not long ago; of late; not long since.
- What is lately in Tamil?
- Lately in Tamil is அணுக்கத்தில், அண்மைக்காலத்தில், நெருக்கத்தில். See Lately meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is lately?
- Lately is an adverb.
- How do you pronounce lately?
- Lately is pronounced /ˈleɪt.li/.
Words near lately in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lately (page history and authors); lately (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); सध्या (Marathi) (page history and authors); ابھی (Urdu) (page history and authors); ইদানীং (Bengali) (page history and authors); lately (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lately.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lately.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lately. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.