Word.ws English Dictionary

that ship has sailed

that ship has sailed phrase: that opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.

Phrase

that ship has sailed

  1. That opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.
    • Let me make it plain that I am not urging a return to fixed rates. That ship has sailed. The example, however, should serve to make us cautious when taking other fundamental steps in the future. That brings me to a subject of more current interest in the deregulation debate, the establishment of a...1979, Lawrence G. Goldberg, Lawrence J. White, editors, The Deregulation of the Banking and Securities Industries, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 137
    • The point is I… I don't need this right now, OK. It, it's too late, I'm with somebody else, I'm happy. This ship has sailed.1995 November, “The One Where Ross Finds Out”, in Friends, season 2, episode 7 (television production), spoken by Ross Geller (David Schwimmer)

Synonyms of that ship has sailed

Forms of that ship has sailed

alternative formthat ship has already sailed

Questions about that ship has sailed

What does that ship has sailed mean?
That ship has sailed means that opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.
What part of speech is that ship has sailed?
That ship has sailed is a phrase.

Words near that ship has sailed in the dictionary

  1. that much
  2. that old dog won't hunt
  3. that one
  4. that said
  5. that ship has already sailed
  6. that ship has sailed
  7. that tears it
  8. that there
  9. that time of the month
  10. that tired feeling
  11. that train has already left the station

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: that ship has sailed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-that ship has sailed.wav.

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