The act of causing something to be late or delayed; the process of making something occur later than expected.
From the verb 'belate' in its gerund/present participle form, using the '-ing' suffix. This form preserves the verb meaning while allowing it to function as a noun or as part of continuous verb tenses.
The '-ing' form is one of English's greatest tricks—it lets verbs become nouns and become part of compound tenses, which is why 'belating' can appear in sentences like 'The traffic was belating our arrival.'
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