Put the genie back in the bottle
Meaning(s)
1. try to reverse or suppress something when it is already too late to do so
Popularity
High
Professional
High
Social
How to Memorize
It's too late. You can't put the genie back in the bottle.
Analysis
The idiom to 'put the genie back in the bottle' is used to describe attempting to reverse or stop something that is already in motion when the harm has already been done. This idiom. is used solely in the negative to indicate the impossibility of such an attempt.
Social Examples (Advance)
- Due to advances in technology, more and more children prefer to be inside on a device rather than outdoors playing. Despite the risks of a sedentary lifestyle, there's no way to put the genie back in the bottle now.
- Everyone already knows about my affair, I might as well come clean. It's too late to put the genie back in the bottle.
Professional Examples (Advance)
- We should never have agreed to those terms when we signed the deal, but it's too late to put that genie back in the bottle.
- We need to mitigate the knock-on effects of this terrible decision. It's too late to put the genie back in the bottle.