Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

close the stable door after the horse has bolted

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.20 in modern English

Syllables: close the stable -door after the horse has bolt-ed
IPA

63

Scrabble Score

40

Letters

3

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism that is too late (after the first failure instead of before).

Example Sentences

"We are now in an election period, with WhatsApp and closed Facebook groups being used, as we speak, in electoral campaigning, but the law has not changed since the DCMS Committee, on which I serve, raised these issues. We have yet another instance of shutting the door after the horse has bolted."

Inflected Forms

closes the stable door after the horse has bolted (present, singular) closing the stable door after the horse has bolted (participle, present) closed the stable door after the horse had bolted (participle, past) closed the stable door after the horse had bolted (past)

Phrases

barn door late in the day put the genie back in the bottle Scarborough warning that ship has sailed too little, too late unring a bell

Frequently Paired Words

barn door horsebarn late in the day put the genie back in the bottle Scarborough warning that ship has sailed too little, too late unring a bell

Synonyms

close the barn door after the horse has bolted close the stable door after the horse has been stolen lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen lock the stable door after the horse has bolted shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

Questions

What does close the stable door after the horse has bolted mean?: To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism that is too late (after the first failure instead of before).

How to pronounce close the stable door after the horse has bolted

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