Washington often serves as a trailing indicator of public sentiment on an issue, following action in state capitals or responding belatedly to a growing public outcry.

It belatedly responded by setting up Dellcommunity.com, a forum for its customers to air their gripes and put forward suggestions.

At that point, government agencies belatedly responded.

The central bankers responded both belatedly and tepidly, failing to stem the run and then making a new round of policy errors that compounded matters.

When he first woke, he'd been racked with pain as his numbed nerve endings belatedly responded to the severe cold that had nearly killed him.

Eventually the scale of the massacres of Christians became clear, and the French belatedly responded.

Warning sirens, belatedly responding to the lightning-fast raid, whooped hysterically.

Kerry weakly and belatedly responded in late August, forcing the old media to pay attention at last.

Responding belatedly to two Federal court orders, the commission recently held a hearing on proposals to tighten regulation of private fund-raising in Presidential elections.

Mr. Baker suggested that traders might have been responding belatedly to higher Federal gasoline taxes imposed over the weekend.