too little, too late

too little, too late

Not enough and arriving too late to resolve or save a situation. The government finally started sending trucks with supplies to the city, but it was too little, too late for the thousands of families affected by the storm. We tried to reinvigorate the company's earnings by branching into electronic publishing, but it was too little, too late, and we ended up going out of business a few months later.
See also: late
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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.
See also: late
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

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]
See also: late
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

too little too late

An insufficient remedy applied too late to work. It is probably safe to speculate that this term originated in the military and was first applied to reinforcements that were insufficient in number and arrived too late to ensure victory or avoid defeat. Certainly the historian Allan Nevins used it with that in mind when writing about Nazi Germany in May 1935 (Germany Disturbs the Peace): “The former allies have blundered in the past by offering Germany too little, and offering even that too late, until finally Nazi Germany has become a menace to all mankind.”
See also: late, little
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • too little too late
  • get (one's) (own) house in order
  • set (one's) (own) house in order
  • set house in order
  • spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, the
  • the spirit is willing
  • the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
  • The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak
  • the spirit is willing, but the/(one's) body is weak
  • the spirit is willing, but the/(one's) flesh is weak
References in periodicals archive
I think it will bring to the family great deal of comfort but it is too little, too late," Khurshid told ANI.
Too little, too late: Salman Khurshid on Kulbhushan's meet with wife
PLEA Dairy buyers are urged not to pay too little, too late
Payments warning as the hot weather hits milk producers
Chris Rawlinson's penalty on 23 minutes and a Paul McMahon header four minutes before half-time put Stafford in charge and a 29th goal of the season for the league's top scorer Craig Pountney ten minutes from time was too little, too late for the Bees.
Football: Nuneaton; RUGBY UNION
The commission had announced a 60-day suspension of the rules a week earlier, but the court saw that move as too little, too late. "The petition to vacate the rules has been pending since 1980," the judges noted.
Air Commands
Their transaction efforts were too little, too late to support the vertical markets they'd created."
Signs of VerticalNet cutbacks have "dinosaur" newsletter publishers chortling
The seventy-student school Weller established in 1994 was more racially representative of South Africa than the company itself, which was mostly white, but it was a case of too little, too late. It was shut down, as was a 3-year-old national choreography competition that was bridging the gap between ballet and contemporary dance by attracting young black South African choreographers and racially mixed audiences.
BALLET LOSES ITS FOOTING IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Pope's words were hailed by some as a historic motion of atonement and criticized in other quarters as being too little, too late. Some Jewish leaders were dismayed he did not specifically mention the Holocaust.
Pope John Paul's apology praised by Christian leaders
While the attention to gun violence is encouraging, it comes as too little, too late for families like the Youngs.
THE FIGHT AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE
I know that interest rates have come down but it was too little, too late."
MP's plea to help firms survive
But the upswing seems to have been too little, too late. In retrospect, a clear sign of the demise had come at the beginning of the year, when Mizrahi was forced to close his two-year-old Isaac bridge line, which was intended to spur growth for the company's brand.
End of the line
While most guaranty forms attempt to speak to the problems, blind trust most often is too little, too late, leaving the landlord without meaningful recourse.
Use of guaranty as credit enhancement is gaining in popularity in many deals
The incentive to report information required by the current rules is too little, too late. The "carrot" is merely to avoid penalties in excess of $10,000 per failure (not to avoid the initial $10,000 penalty) and is offered only after the IRS notifies the taxpayer that a failure has occurred, which could be years after the form was required.
Foreign reporting rules should encourage voluntary compliance
government heeds the suggestion, however, it may still be too little, too late, says Jim Bidzos of RSA Data Security in Redwood City, Calif.
Boosting cryptography's role in security
Grieving David de Freitas said a review of the case ordered by the Director of Public Prosecutions was "too little, too late".
why was our girl hounded to death? Dad's anger over trial of rape claim daughter
Barack Obama's plan to halt military trials in Guantanamo Bay are "too little, too late", a Briton formerly held at the prison said yesterday.
These promises have been made before, says British former detainee