miss the boat
Idioms-
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.
-
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 .
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.
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 • Dec. 31, 2025
"It really speaks to how some organisations and some corporations, in their attempt to be inclusive, miss the boat," he adds.
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025
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 • Jun. 23, 2023
“People who try to define him by politics miss the boat completely,” Lowden said.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 22, 2023
I worry we’ll miss the boat, but maybe that’s her plan.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
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.
