1occurring or situated nearer to the end of something than to the beginning:the latter half of 1989heart disease dogged his latter years
recent:the project has had low cash flows in latter years
2 (the latter) denoting the second or second mentioned of two people or things:the Russians could advance into either Germany or Austria—they chose the latter option [as noun]:the President appoints the Prime Minister and, on the latter’s advice, the rest of the government
