better late than never
- 1It is more worthwhile to do something after the intended time than to leave it undone entirely.
She earned her college degree at sixty, but better late than never.
The new bridge opened a full season behind schedule. Well, better late than never.
Note
A proverb with a possible Latin ancestor: it may translate potius sero quam numquam, from Livy's History of Rome, around 27 BC. In English it usually stands alone as a wry remark when something overdue finally arrives. Ghostbusters II (1989) has it greet the ghost of the Titanic docking in New York. It can also follow but or still, noting the delay while welcoming the result.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with better late than never, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.
Origin
This may be a calque (a word-for-word translation) of the Latin "potius sero quam numquam," which appears in the fourth book of Titus Livius's "Ab Urbe condita" (History of Rome), written around 27 BC.