that ship has sailed
"that-ship-has-sailed" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“that ship has sailed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - That opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.
Corpus desk
Index EN-that-ship-has-sailed · that ship has sailed · English
that ship has sailed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | that ship has sailed |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “that ship has sailed” in English
Rare enough to double-check
that ship has sailed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "That opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.".
that ship has sailed has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is that ship has sailed, spelled T-H-A-T- -S-H-I-P- -H-A-S- -S-A-I-L-E-D.
Definition
- 1That opportunity has already passed; it is too late to do anything about it.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how that ship has sailed appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Let me make it plain that I am not urging a return to fixed rates. That ship has sailed. The example, however, should serve to make us cautious when taking other fundamental steps in the future. That brings me to a subject of more current interest in the deregulation debate, the establishment of a national market system.
The point is I… I don't need this right now, OK. It, it's too late, I'm with somebody else, I'm happy. This ship has sailed.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.