ˈlad.ə(r), -atə- adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English lætra slower; akin to Middle High German lazzer slower, Old Norse latari; compar. of the adjective represented by Old English læt late, slow — more at late
1.
a. : belonging to a subsequent time or period : coming after something else : later
the latter stages of a process
promises to deal with latter events in a second volume
how spiritless, how fallen upon meager latter days — D.C.Peattie
b.
(1) : belonging or relating to the end (as of life or the world) : last , final
in his latter years threw his printing press into the sea — Mabel Dolmetsch
remind worshipers of … their own latter end — G.G.Coulton
proclaimed these were the latter days, with God's judgment drawing nigh
(2) : belonging to the second half of the two divisions of a period
indicates composition in the latter months of 1813 — K.N.Cameron
specifically : second
during the latter half of the nineteenth century — F.L.Allen
c. : recent , present
the human race in these latter days — G.M.Trevelyan
2. : being the last named of two or more mentioned or understood things
the novel … grows out of the epic as a reaction against the latter — Leon Livingstone
the drum, the rattle, and the flute, the latter reserved wholly for love songs — American Guide Series: Minnesota