behind the times
IdiomsExample Sentences
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He rolls his eyes at the town’s unquestioning belief in ghost stories and grimaces at all the visible evidence of how behind the times the town is.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
When he returned to the U.S. after eight years abroad, he remarked, “Europeans are 20 years behind the times, but working damned hard three days a week to catch up.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Cricket may be behind the times with innovation and how involved coaches are with on-field decisions, says England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Springfield: At the time, Australia was kind of behind the times, so at the show, when the Beatles came on it was like they were from Mars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2024
He sighed, “A bit behind the times, that’s the trouble with him. He clings to matrix mechanics as the all in all, and this problem calls for more powerful mathematical tools. He’s so stubborn.”
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
