difference between latest and newest

English as a Second Language English Teacher Explanations (ESL Tests)
1

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #7 [color=blue]“Her latest book”, question 3

I’ve read most of her books and they’re all fascinating but I haven’t read her newest book.

(a) read
(b) of
(c) haven’t
(d) newest

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #7 [color=blue]“Her latest book”, answer 3

I’ve read most of her books and they’re all fascinating but I haven’t read her latest book.

Correct entry: latest
The error was: (d) newest

You have [color=green]found the error but your entry is [color=red]incorrect.
I’ve read most of her books and they’re all fascinating but I haven’t read her newest book.
[size=200]_________________________[/size]

Please, can anybody explain to me the different between latest and newest.

thk, Silvina.

2

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There is not really any significant difference in meaning here, although ‘latest’ needn’t mean ‘newest’ if we are speaking of used objects, I suppose. I think that this test question needs re-working, Silvina.
.

3

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I agree with you, MM. The sentence should be reworked.
.
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Examples of ‘newest’ from the BNC:

  1. On his newest album, Double Good Everything (Capitol) he measures out the steps a soul man must take to remain on top of the game.

  2. The newest building in the centre of Qara Tappah had been built in 1934.

Of those two sentences, I would say you can replace ‘newest’ with ‘latest’ in (1) but not really in (2). Perhaps that is because ‘latest’ tends to suggest ‘most recent’ only with a focus on the idea that the origin/creation is current. ‘Newest’ is more relative and therefore perhaps more flexible – it might refer to the most recent one in a collection of things that are all relatively new, or it might refer to the most recent one in a collection of things that are all old.
.

4

Could anyone explain to me the difference between “newest” and “latest”. Thank you so much

5

Have you looked in a learner’s dictionary

newest - most recently built/created/invented, etc.
latest - most recent thing of its kind.

No significant difference.

6

I agree with MM and yankee. The boundary of this 2 words is not really clear (the example of Yankee is good to point out they are not interchangeable in every case). Hi, Beeesneees could you explain what you mean “latest - most recent thing of its kind”. I am not sure that I can get your idea.

7

There is no difference other than the words I used in my definition of newest and latest.
latest phone - the most recent type of phone.
latest trend - the most recent trend.

I didn’t make it clear enough that I also thought the difference was so insignificant that the question should be reworked.

8

dear Beeesneees , why cant we say "newest book " here - as a recently created? thank you in advance

9

In real English you can, Lili, but the answer set to this question has not yet been fixed, so the test still indicates ‘newest’ as ‘wrong’.

(Sorry, I cannot get into that particular test to fix it myself.)

10

I’ve read most of her books and they’re all fascinating but I haven’t read her latest book

I was talking about this test, it isn’t right to put ‘‘newest’’

11

Are you just asking the same question again, Lili?