(1) 形容词late有两种比较级和最高级：late — later — latest； late — latter — last(不规则变化)。late可以用作：

①“迟的，晚的”。

• He was too late for school yesterday.
  他昨天上学太迟了。
• The train was twenty minutes late .
  火车晚到了20分钟。
• Do you favor late marriage?
  你赞成晚婚吗？
• It is already late spring now.
  已是晚春了。

②“已故的”(=former, recent, and not now living or existing)。

• She inherited the house from her late husband.
  她继承了已故丈夫的房子。
• This tree symbolic of the friendship between our two peoples was planted by the late President on his third visit to China.
  这棵象征着我们两国人民友谊的树是由已故总统在第三次访华时种下的。

③“前任的”(=former, recent and still living)。

• The President announced that the agreement signed by the late government with that country was ceased to be in force.
  总统宣布由前任政府与那个国家签订的协议失效。
• This prize was given her by the late prime minister.
  这项奖是由前首相颁发给她的。

 (2) later意为“后来的，晚些时候的”。

• The late edition of this paper appears at 3 p.m.; there's a later one at 5 p.m.; the final edition comes out at 7 p.m.
  此报的晚版于下午3时出版；下午5时有较晚版，最晚版于7时发行。

 (3) latest意为“最近的，最新的”。

• I like the latest novel of his much better than his last one.
  我对于他最新小说的喜爱远胜于上一部。

 (4) latter可表示：

①后面的；后来的；末尾的；较后的。

• It is predicted that the economic situation of that country will be changing for the better in the latter half of the year.
  据预计，该国经济形势下半年将好转。
• He was comparatively happy in his latter/later days (Or: ...in the latter years of his life).
  他晚年相对比较幸福。

②近来的。如：in these latter days (与in the former days, in the former times相对)。

③已谈及的两个人或事物中的“后者”。

• Of these two men the former is now a teacher; and the latter an engineer.
  这两人前者是老师，后者是工程师。