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- too little, too late
too little, too late
too little, too late
Prov. Not enough help to save the situation, and arriving too late. After a lifetime of bad diet and no exercise, Lorna tried to save her health by improving her habits, but it was too little, too late. Fred: I know how to keep my business from going bankrupt. I'll invest all my savings in it. Bill: I'm sorry, Fred; even that much would be too little, too late.
too little, too late
not enough and not given soon enough to be useful Financial help for food pantries and soup kitchens may be too little, too late.
too little, too late
if the help that is given to a person is described as too little, too late, there is not enough of it and it was given too late to be useful The government have finally decided to put some money into research but it's too little, too late.
too little, too late
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]