miss the boat

Idioms  

1. Fail to take advantage of an opportunity, as in Jean missed the boat on that club membership . This expression, which alludes to not being in time to catch a boat, has been applied more widely since the 1920s.

2. Fail to understand something, as in I'm afraid our legislator missed the boat on that amendment to the bill . [Mid-1900s] Also see miss the point .

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Example Sentences

“At stake is whether the U.S. government is going to miss the boat on AI as badly as we missed it on social media, or if Americans are going to have a say in the most consequential technology of their lifetimes,” Bores said in an interview.

From The Wall Street Journal

Jonathan Davis, a corporate partner at Kirkland & Ellis, said companies are moving fast because they don’t want to miss the boat.

From The Wall Street Journal

"It really speaks to how some organisations and some corporations, in their attempt to be inclusive, miss the boat," he adds.

From BBC

“I’m just concerned that our industry is going to miss the boat on the wind farm work,” he said.

From Seattle Times

Here’s a statement that you can quote: Waiting for ships that never come in A girl is likely to miss the boat.

From New York Times

Related Words

• confuse
• miscalculate
• misconstrue
• misinterpret
• misjudge
• misread
• overestimate
• overlook
• underestimate