late stage
Near the end
Late stage describes an advanced phase of a process, typically when outcomes become more predictable or irreversible.
In medicine, late-stage cancer has spread significantly and carries a poorer prognosis.
In business, late-stage startups have matured past early funding rounds.
The phrase often carries ominous weight: late-stage capitalism suggests a system in decline or approaching collapse.
- terminalAt the endpoint
- advancedFar along in development
- finalLast and decisive
- endgameConcluding phase of competition
- ninth inningBaseball's concluding segment
decline · deterioration · progression · metastatic · palliative · hospice · prognosis · irreversible · critical · circling the drain · twilight · waning · fading · end times · countdown · eleventh hour · homestretch · finish line
- development stagesinfancy, childhood, alpha, adolescence, beta
- fundingfunding, grant, loan, grants, venture capital
- life stagesbaby, teenager, adult, childhood, adolescence
- maturityadulthood, immature, come of age, ripe, unripe
- medical stagesacute phase, recovery phase, maintenance phase, prodromal, onset
- clinical trialsclinical trial, placebo, double-blind, control group, double blind
late stageearly stage
Initial developmental period
first stage · outset · dawn · early · initial
late stageearly stage
Initial developmental period
stage one · early detection · localized · in situ · early onset
late stageearly stage
Initial developmental period
early-stage · seed stage · startup phase · nascent · emerging
late, stage, later, latest, lately, lateness, stages, staged, staging