fashionably late

fashionably late

English

Pronunciation

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Adverb

fashionably late (comparative more fashionably late, superlative most fashionably late)

1. (idiomatic) Arriving behind time to an event which does not normally require one to be punctual.
   • 1874, May Agnes Fleming, chapter V, in A Terrible Secret‎:

     Three hours later—fashionably late, of course—the Stuart party swept in state into their box.

   • 1913, Francis Lynde, chapter X, in The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush‎:

     Ex-Senator Blount's party of three was fashionably late at the function in Mesa Circle, but in the crush filling the spacious drawing-rooms the hostess and her long line of receiving assistants were still on duty.

   • 1917, O. Douglas [pseudonym; Anna Masterton Buchan], chapter II, in The Setons‎:

     The sofa which she had counted on to hold four looked crowded with three […] and when the Simpsons came, fashionably late (having only just finished dinner), they had to content themselves with the end of a holland-covered form hired from the baker.

   • 1967, “Twentieth Century Fox”, in The Doors, performed by The Doors:

     Well, she's fashionably lean / And she's fashionably late / She'll never rank a scene / She'll never break a date

Derived terms

• fashionable lateness