different between benight vs belate

English

Alternative forms

• benighten

Etymology

From Middle English benyghten, binighten, byny?ten, equivalent to be- +? night.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?t

Verb

benight (third-person singular simple present benights, present participle benighting, simple past and past participle benighted) (archaic, transitive)

1. (chiefly in passive) To overtake (a traveller etc) with the darkness of night, especially before shelter is reached.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.21:

     [H]e struck off the common road, to take the benefit of a nearer cut; and finding himself benighted near a village, took up his lodging at the first inn to which his horse directed him.
2. To darken; to shroud or obscure.
3. To plunge or be overwhelmed in moral or intellectual darkness.
   • 1819, Reginald Heber, The Missionary Hymn:

     Can we whose souls are lighted

     With Wisdom from on high,

     Can we to men benighted

     The lamp of life deny?

Derived terms

• benighted
• benightedly
• benightedness
• benighter
• benighting
• benightment

Translations

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989

English

Etymology

From be- +? late.

Verb

belate (third-person singular simple present belates, present participle belating, simple past and past participle belated)

1. (transitive) To retard; cause something to be late; delay; benight.

Derived terms

• belated

Anagrams

• Beatle

Italian

Verb

belate

1. second-person plural present indicative of belare
2. second-person plural imperative of belare

Verb

belate f

1. feminine plural of belato