A latecomer is someone who arrives after something has already started. When a latecomer walks into a movie theater, the previews are over and the film is already playing. When a latecomer joins a soccer team in October, they've missed the first month of practices and games.

The word carries a hint of disadvantage: latecomers often have to catch up with what they missed. A latecomer to a birthday party might find that all the cake has been eaten. A latecomer to a popular book series has to avoid spoilers while reading the earlier books that everyone else finished years ago.

Sometimes latecomer describes someone who adopts an idea or technology later than others. Your grandfather might be a latecomer to texting, still preferring phone calls while everyone else has moved on to messaging. A company that's a latecomer to streaming video has to compete with services that already have millions of subscribers.

Being a latecomer isn't always bad. Sometimes it means you can learn from others' mistakes or benefit from improvements they've already made. But it can also mean working harder to catch up with people who got an earlier start.