eleventh hour

noun

1. the last possible moment for doing something:

   to change plans at the eleventh hour.

eleventh hour

noun

1. 1. the latest possible time; last minute
   2. ( as modifier )

      an eleventh-hour decision

eleventh hour

1. The last minute: “The water bombers arrived at the eleventh hour — just in time to prevent the forest fire from engulfing the town.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of eleventh hour¹

First recorded in 1820–30

Idioms and Phrases

The latest possible time, as in We turned in our report at the eleventh hour . This term is thought to allude to the parable of the laborers (Matthew 20:1–16), in which those workers hired at the eleventh hour of a twelve-hour working day were paid the same amount as those who began in the first hour. [Early 1800s]

Example Sentences

All this has created an outpouring of national sentiment and a predictable flurry of eleventh-hour government initiatives.

From The Daily Beast

She won an Emmy in 1963 for an episode of The Eleventh Hour.

From The Daily Beast

No more eleventh-hour miracles—the inevitable finally has to happen.

From The Daily Beast

In fact Kennedy and Khrushchev did bend the bars just enough to reach out to each other at the eleventh hour.

From The Daily Beast

A lot of what is going on is “political grandstanding,” Obama said, and generally the crisis is averted at the eleventh hour.

From The Daily Beast

To go back on it, and at the eleventh hour, would proclaim him weak and vacillating, and the effect might be as Strachan said.

From Project Gutenberg

The whole being recoiled now, at the eleventh hour, as a fierce wild creature that one tries to bury alive.

From Project Gutenberg

And this eleventh-hour reminder gave him the excuse which later, in his superconscientiousness, he deemed a necessity.

From Project Gutenberg

Thou shalt not at the eleventh hour begin to hunt material for thy paper.

From Project Gutenberg

It came now, kindly, friendly and even affectionate, at the very eleventh hour.

From Project Gutenberg