behind the curve

idiom

chiefly US, disapproving

: slower about doing something than other people, companies, etc.

We are behind the curve when it comes to advances in medicine.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

This is far from the first time that the auto industry has been portrayed as behind the curve on climate goals, even with its aggressive EV transition underway. —Patrick George, The Verge, 9 Feb. 2023

If the federal government is behind the curve on how much methane emissions have escalated with the fracking boom, Texas is even more hands off. —Michael Biesecker And Helen Wieffering, Anchorage Daily News, 28 July 2022

Some worry that the Fed's rapid moves will eventually lead to a recession, while others fear that the central bank is still behind the curve in its inflation fight and will have to resort to even more big increases throughout the year to catch up. —Paul R. La Monica, CNN, 2 May 2022

The Fed was far behind the curve in anticipating inflation, which Powell conceded on Monday, and has been slow to address price rises. —Ram Charan, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2022

The Biden administration will announce new building ventilation standards for schools and businesses on Thursday -- a welcome step for experts who feel the U.S. has long been behind the curve on using air filtration as a valuable tool to fight COVID-19. —Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News, 17 Mar. 2022

At this year’s annual meeting of the American Economic Association, prominent economists from both sides of the political spectrum argued that the Fed is behind the curve in the battle to contain an outburst of inflation in an economy still beset by a pandemic. —Rich Miller, Bloomberg.com, 9 Jan. 2022

The future will stay trendy so long as the times feel turbulent—and so long as there is money to be made and attention to be gained from guiding those who feel, and will always be, behind the curve. —Devon Powers, Wired, 30 Dec. 2021

But the recent acceleration in wage growth, particularly in low-paying industries, has left them hopelessly behind the curve. —New York Times, 23 Dec. 2021

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