a day late and a dollar short
Too late and too feeble to achieve the desired effect.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Your apology is a day late and a dollar short.”
“He tried to fix the broken machine, but his efforts were a day late and a dollar short.”
“The government finally passed the new safety regulations, but for the families affected by the disaster, the action was a day late and a dollar short.”
- 01
a cold day in July
The time of occurrence of an event that will never happen.
- 02
a short drop and a sudden stop
A fall to one's death by hanging.
- 03
a year and a day
A long time.
- 04
all one's born days
One's whole life.
- 05
almighty dollar
The dollar, satirically characterized as a god.
- 06
as of late
Lately; recently.
- 07
as the day is long
Unceasingly; very; thoroughly; to a very high degree.
- 08
bad hair day
A day when things seem to be unmanageable or go wrong.
Last updated August 10, 2026