a day late and a dollar short
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective edit
- (US, idiomatic, predicative) Too late and too feeble to achieve the desired effect.
- His apology was a day late and a dollar short.
Usage notes edit
- Permits relatively little variation, but can be found with shy for short, other units for day and dollar, and occasionally a unit of distance instead of dollar.
Adverb edit
Translations edit
adverbial use of the adjectival form
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