Word.ws English Dictionary

too little, too late

too little, too late phrase: used as a predicate or a pro-sentence to indicate insufficiency.

Phrase

too little, too late

  1. (idiomatic) Used as a predicate or a pro-sentence to indicate insufficiency.
    • That's just half what was due last week. Too little, too late.
    • Committing half his reserves nearly three hours after the attack was too little, too late.

Examples of too little, too late in a sentence

  • But it was too little, too late, and the whole thing slid quietly into the ocean.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave...
  • Jones forced a header over the line after Danny Welbeck was denied from close range and fellow substitute Federico Macheda hit the woodwork, but it was too little, too late.2011 December 7, David Ornstein, “FC Basel 2 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

Questions about too little, too late

What does too little, too late mean?
Too little, too late means used as a predicate or a pro-sentence to indicate insufficiency.
How do you use too little, too late in a sentence?
But it was too little, too late, and the whole thing slid quietly into the ocean.
What part of speech is too little, too late?
Too little, too late is a phrase.

Words near too little, too late in the dictionary

  1. too hard basket
  2. too hard baskets
  3. too hot to handle
  4. too hot to hold
  5. too late
  6. too little, too late
  7. too long; didn't read
  8. too many
  9. too many balls in the air
  10. too many chefs spoil the broth
  11. too many chiefs and not enough indians

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: too little, too late (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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