Synonyms

too little, too late

Idioms

Inadequate as a remedy and not in time to be effective, as in The effort to divert the stream into a corn field was too little too late—the houses were already flooded. This term originated in the military, where it was applied to reinforcements that were insufficient and arrived too late to be of help. [First half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Maybe all of this pressure was too little, too late.

From BBC

He makes an almost tacked-on, Yoda-like appearance, but it’s too little, too late.

From Los Angeles Times

His mother told BBC Wales "nobody cared, nobody was listening" and it was "too little too late for him".

From BBC

Steinberg went on to co-write songs in the early 2000s, such as JoJo's Too Little Too Late and Demi Lovato's Give Your Heart a Break.

From BBC

Committed defence kept England at bay, with No 8 Ben Earl's try two minutes from time too little, too late for the visitors.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023