Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 4, 2023 is: belated \bih-LAY-tud\ adjective

Belated means "happening or coming very late or too late."

// Olivia called her friend on his birthday to let him know that a belated gift from her was on its way.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belated)

Examples:

"Skating reached a pop-culture peak in the ... 1970s and '80s, before surging back into popularity during the pandemic as the ideal socially-distanced fitness activity. ... Still, Angela Tanner, the assistant executive director of the Roller Skating Association International, was enthusiastic about my belated leap onto the bandwagon: 'I think there's this perception that roller skating has exploded, but roller skating never really stopped,' she said." — Christine Emba, The Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2023

Did you know?

Don't worry about being late to the party if you don't know the history of belated; you're right on time. Long ago, there was a verb [belate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belate), which meant "to make late." From the beginning, belate tended to mostly turn up in the form of its [past participle](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/past%20participle), belated. When used as an adjective, belated originally meant "overtaken by night," as in "belated travelers seeking lodging for the night." This sense did not overstay its welcome; it was eventually overtaken by the "delayed" meaning we know today. As you may have guessed, belate and its descendant belated derive from the adjective [late](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/late); belate was formed by simply combining the prefix [be-](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/be#h5) ("to cause to be") with late.