# better late than never

Pronunciation: US say "bet-er layt thuhn NEV-er" /ˌbɛtɚ ˌleɪt ðən ˈnɛvɚ/; UK say "bet-uh layt thuhn NEV-uh" /ˌbɛtə ˌleɪt ðən ˈnɛvə/

## Adverb

1. It is more worthwhile to do something after the intended time than to leave it undone entirely.
   - Simple: Doing something later than you wanted is still better than not doing it at all.
   - _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._

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/better-late-than-never (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).