late bloomer

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late bloomer (plural late bloomers)

1. (figurative) A person who reaches puberty or who matures comparatively later than is typical.
   • 2003, Kathy McCoy, Charles Wibbelsman, Growing and Changing, Penguin, →ISBN, page 14:

     You can be a normal late bloomer whose progress through puberty hovers on the late side of each normal age range if: It's in your genes. That is, if one or both parents or other relatives were also late bloomers.

2. (figurative) A person who enters a romantic relationship or engages in sexual intercourse significantly later in life.
3. (figurative) A person who achieves proficiency or success in a field significantly later in life.
   • 2010 August 16, Grant Rosenberg, “Jean Reno: Putting the Fun in French Cinema”, in Time‎, archived from the original on January 26, 2011:

     He was a late bloomer, finding success at 40 in Luc Besson's 1988 film The Big Blue.

   • 2021, Lil Nas XJack Harlowet al. (lyrics and music), “Industry Baby”, performed by Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow:

     [Harlow:] I'm just a late bloomer (Mmm) / I didn't peak in high school, I'm still out here gettin' cuter (Woo)

4. (literally, horticulture) A flowering plant that blooms later in a growing season than other flowering plants.
   • 1903, Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain‎:

     The great snows that come at the beginning of winter, before there is yet any snow except the perpetual high banks, are best worth while to watch. These come often before the late bloomers are gone and while the migratory birds are still in the piney woods.

   • 1907, Indiana State Board of Agriculture, Annual Report of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, page 613:

     One of the characteristics of the pawpaw is that it always bears [fruit], yet there is an occasional season when there is only a light crop on account of late frosts, but it generally bears some, as it is a late bloomer.

• early bloomer

• late-blooming

• opsimath

• “late bloomer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.