born too late

idiom

: better suited for life in an earlier time period
John prefers early jazz music over the modern stuff. I guess he was born too late.

Examples of born too late in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Alas, Willie was born too late to join the First World War and too early to enter the Second—and between the two, the forces of mechanization replaced his beloved horses with tanks. Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024 Streisand was born too late for the Golden Age of the American musical, but anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose scores glow with lyrical sincerity, seems to connect with her emotionally. Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 18 Nov. 2023 Juicebox shows like this one let fans who were born too late or on the opposite coast reimagine themselves in that moment. Eric Ducker, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2023 He was born too late to see the magic of Griffey leading the Mariners to their prominence, and the 116-win season in 2001, but sat in the stands idolizing Suzuki and marveling over Hernandez’s dominance. Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 10 July 2023 As Gopnik pointed out in a recent Vanity Fair article, Lydia was born too late to have been mentored by Bernstein. Hazlitt, 22 Feb. 2023 But what of those who were born too late to fully appreciate what this remarkable actor meant to audiences deprived of role models? Peter Debruge, Variety, 22 Sep. 2022 Making past fashions available to a young audience hungry for them, but born too late to have access to them, could be seen as a time-spanning and democratic gesture, if not a modern one. Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 11 July 2022 That is bad for the migrant, which even under optimal circumstances arrives desperately depleted from its travels, and terrible for its offspring, which may be born too late to take advantage of peak food availability. Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'born too late.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near born too late

Cite this Entry

“Born too late.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/born%20too%20late. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.

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