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

His mother told BBC Wales "nobody cared, nobody was listening" and it was "too little too late for him".

From BBC • Feb. 26, 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

It manages to eke out its message in the eleventh hour, but it feels too little too late in our cultural moment, despite its evergreen importance.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2025

But it was a case of too little, too late.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

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