belated
A belated thing or event happens later than expected.
When we say that someone's gift was belated, it means they gave it to us after a lot of time had passed since an occasion like a birthday. For example, if you got a present two weeks late for your birthday, the person who gave it to you might have been trying to make up for being slow with the delivery, but in reality, what's belated is just that the gift itself arrived so long after the special day was over. This can also happen when people apologize or explain something after a delay - they're usually acknowledging that their tardiness caused problems or made things more complicated than they needed to be.
How common is "belated"?
It has a balanced usage among all categories: speech, fiction, newspapers and academic texts.
verb
To retard; cause something to be late; delay; benight.
adjective
Later in relation to the proper time something should have happened.
Example: Happy belated birthday!
Real examples of "belated" in context
