- used to refer to the second of two things or people mentioned
- He chose the latter option.
- The latter point is the most important.
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- nearer to the end of a period of time than the beginning
- the latter half of the year
- during the latter stages of the tournament
- The latter half of the twentieth century saw huge growth in air travel.
- recent
- In latter years, the population has grown a lot here.
compare former
Word OriginOld English lætra ‘slower’, comparative of læt, of Germanic origin; related to German lass, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin lassus ‘weary’ and let.
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latter