latter-day

latter (“close or closer to the present time”) +‎ day.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlætə(ɹ) deɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlæt̬əɹ deɪ/, /ˈlæɾəɹ deɪ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lat‧ter-day

latter-day (not comparable)

1. Modern, recent.

   He thinks of himself as a latter-day knight errant, out on a quest fighting dragons. It’s not very practical but it is romantic.

   • 1842 January, “Dialogue between a Saint and an Enquirer after Truth”, in P[arley] P[arker] Pratt, editor, The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, volume II, number 9, Manchester: Printed by W. Shackleton & Son; edited and published by Parley P. Pratt, […], OCLC 866325798, page 129:

     Enquirer: Sir, I understand you are a member of the Church called Latter-Day Saints. Why is the Church called by that name? / Saint: The term Saint is as old as Adam, and has been in use in all ages and dispensations as a sacred name applied to the people of God by inspiration, but more especially applied by the sacred writers to the people of God in the last days. […] [W]e consider that the people of God should be distinguished by no other name but that of Saints, the term Latter-Day being appended as merely expressive of the age or dispensation in which we live.

   • 1922 April, C. J. Vine, “Wookey Hole: Britain’s remarkable prehistoric remains”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 6, London: "Boy's Own Paper" Office, […], OCLC 870086995, page 419, column 2:

     As before mentioned, the pottery makers were comparatively late arrivals—it is conjectured these crossed in canoes from the continent in the Neolithic Age. These latter-day visitors were followed by the invaders of the Bronze Age, and all found their way, in due time, to the Wookey Hole (or holes), for many bronze implements and ornaments were found.

   • 1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 114 (photo caption):

     A trait of latter-day steam power on Canadian Pacific was the recessed headlight, illustrated on the engine of Extra 2380 East running between Swift Current and Moose Jaw, Sask., in December 1956.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Boy in the Corner”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, OCLC 483591931, page 214:

     The face which emerged was not reassuring. […] He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.

   • 1981, James Monaco, “The Shape of Film History”, in How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 254:

     Robert Rossen's short career included two outstanding Films Noirs: Body and Soul (1947) and the latter-day The Hustler (1961).

   • 2015 August 19, Sean O'Hagan, “A latter-day freak show? Bruce Gilden’s extreme portraits are relentlessly cruel”, in The Guardian‎, London, archived from the original on 15 October 2017:

     [Bruce] Gilden may be shoving these broken faces in our faces to confront us with what we usually choose to look away from. But his style seems to work against any intention to humanise his subjects. First and foremost, I feel uncomfortable as a viewer – not because of the poverty or abuse etched on to the landscapes of these faces, but because their perceived ugliness is paraded as a kind of latter-day freak show.

   • 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in The Guardian‎, London, archived from the original on 12 March 2018:

     There was something distinctly low-key, even wilfully alienating about the band’s [Radiohead’s] performance. A scattering of OK Computer tracks were interspersed with more abstract latterday material – the clatter of 15 Step and Myxamatosis.^{[sic, meaning Myxomatosis]}

• latterday

• Latter-day Saint