{
  "id": "the-ship-has-sailed.threshold",
  "term": "the ship has sailed",
  "sense": "threshold",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "emergence",
  "domain": "windows opening and closing",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "A parameter has drifted past the wall where action could still change the outcome, and no maintenance can bring it back within range.",
  "folk_gloss": "It is too late to do something because the opportunity has already passed.",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "drift.aimless",
      "wall.range-end",
      "maintenance.upkeep",
      "parameter.condition",
      "window.range"
    ],
    "interaction": "emergence.novel_properties",
    "novel_properties": [
      "window-of-opportunity.threshold"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's cooling systems failed after the 2011 tsunami, making core meltdown inevitable despite later efforts.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "By the time CO2 levels reached 420 ppm in 2022, Arctic summer sea ice volume had fallen below the threshold for recovery.",
      "domain": "climate"
    },
    {
      "text": "After Blockbuster passed on buying Netflix in 2000, video rental dominance collapsed within a decade.",
      "domain": "economics"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "ship has sailed",
    "the ship has sailed"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — windows opening and closing"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-ship-has-sailed.threshold"
}