latest

English

Etymology

From Middle English lateste, from Old English latost, latest, lætest, superlative of læt, whence English late.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.tɪst/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtɪst

Adjective

latest

1. superlative form of late: most late
2. (now rare, poetic) Last, final.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Whiles the sad pang approching she does feele, / Brayes out her latest breath, and vp her eyes doth seele.

3. Most recent.

   Here is the latest news on the accident.

   My latest album, which is being published next week, is even better than my last one.

   It's the latest fashion, ma'am.

   • 1955 April, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 261:

     Equally I can stand in a station like Lucerne in Switzerland, and watch with ill-concealed admiration the majestic entry of one of the latest Gotthard "Ae 6/6" electrics, packing 6,000 horsepower within its 60 ft. of length and 121 tons of weight, with its sleek dark green sides and handsome stainless steel bands and front wings.

Derived terms

• latest and greatest

Translations

superlative of the adjective late; most late

• Hungarian: legkésőbbi (hu)
• Portuguese: mais atrasado
• Romanian: ultim (ro), cel mai din urmă

most recent

• Armenian: վերջին (hy) (verǰin)
• Dutch: nieuwst (nl), recentst (nl), laatst verschenen, laatst (nl)
• Esperanto: lasta (eo)
• Finnish: uusin (fi), viimeisin (fi)
• French: dernier en date
• Galician: último (gl)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὕστατος (hústatos)

• Hindi: नवीनतम (navīntam)
• Hungarian: legutóbbi (hu)
• Japanese: 最新 (ja) (saishin)
• Latin: novissimus
• Maori: nōnātata
• Polish: najnowszy
• Portuguese: último (pt), mais recente
• Romanian: ultim (ro)
• Spanish: último (es)
• Swedish: senaste (sv)
• Thai: ล่าสุด

Adverb

latest

1. superlative form of late: most late
2. At the latest.

   Complete the XYZ task latest by today 5:00PM.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:latest.

Noun

latest (plural latests)

1. The most recent thing, particularly information or news.

   Have you heard the latest?

   What's the latest on the demonstrations in New York?

   Have you met Jane's latest? I hear he's a hunk.

   • 1926, George Gaylord Simpson, edited by Léo F. Laporte, Simple curiosity; letters from George Gaylord Simpson ...‎^[1], published 1987, page 29:

     And like other futile edifices of man these are inhabited for a brief space giving glory to the proprietor of the most unusual or striking and then left to melt back to dust and be forgotten, or worse yet, to become curiosities for generations with other "latests".

   • 1979, Edward Digby Baltzell, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia‎^[2], page 54:

     It has often been said that Philadelphia is the city of firsts, Boston of bests, and New York of latests.

Anagrams

• taslet, Settla, lattes, sattle, stealt, lattés

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

latest

1. indefinite singular superlative degree of lat

Old English

Adjective

latest

1. superlative degree of late