too little, too late

Idioms  

1. Inadequate as a remedy and not in time to be effective, as in The effort to divert the stream into a corn field was too little too late—the houses were already flooded. This term originated in the military, where it was applied to reinforcements that were insufficient and arrived too late to be of help. [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Maybe all of this pressure was too little, too late.

From BBC • Mar. 1, 2026

Committed defence kept England at bay, with No 8 Ben Earl's try two minutes from time too little, too late for the visitors.

From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026

When the Pats added another touchdown with a couple minutes left, it was too little, too late.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Nike is finally getting into the pickleball game — but is it too little, too late?

From MarketWatch • Jan. 17, 2026

Whatever we do seems too little, too late.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

Related Words

• insufficient
• mere
• minimum
• miserable
• paltry
• puny
• scant
• scanty
• skimpy
• sparse
• tenuous