eleventh hour
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.47 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "If she repented, though at the eleventh hour, it was not too late."
- "Highly providential was the appearance on the scene of Corny Kelleher when Stephen was blissfully unconscious but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour the finish might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward […]"
- "In the same year, 1844, negotiations were begun to strengthen the North Union's position by an amalgamation with the Liverpool & Manchester and Grand Junction companies, but at the eleventh hour the shareholders took exception to the rather overbearing ways of the Grand Junction, and backed out."
- "I have extricated myself so far at many eleventh hours and perhaps there is some hope in this."
- "Egypt had managed to bring the two sides to the brink of a deal two weeks ago, before internal political dynamics prompted the Israelis to back out at the eleventh hour."
- "Thus, the famous title of the dictionary is, at base, derogatory. This explains why Yule kept the title secret until the eleventh hour, why some contemporary reviewers took exception to the title, and why Yule highlighted Burnell’s approval of the title."
Etymology
From a parable in the Bible of workmen hired at the eleventh hour (that is, late in the day), known as the Parable of the Workers of the Eleventh Hour or the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard: * King James Bible, Matthew 20:6 & 20:9: *: And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? … And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.