beyond one's years

English

Etymology

Back-formation from wise beyond one's years.

Prepositional phrase

beyond one's years

1. (rare, idiomatic) Extraordinary compared to most in one's age group; characteristic of an older person.
   • 1998, William Dales Hartt, Final Legacies, Nova Publishers, →ISBN, page 39:

     I know now after raising a very bright and sensitive son myself, no parents could have handled me better than my own. I was intelligent beyond my years, but emotionally, ...

   • 2003, OBanya, Sickles Raised from Dust: And Other Poems:

     I am beyond my years, but I cannot keep count, as my Abacus runs to computer grail.

   • 2011, Wayne Whicher, A Home With No Roof, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 88:

     I was always very smart beyond my years. Everyone always said so. Heeeheee.

   • 2012, Jillian Amodio, Diaries of a Teenage Bride, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

     Dear Diary, In some ways I am beyond my years. I mean how many eighteen year olds feel ready to settle down and marry this day and age? Most people my age are going away to college, partying on the weekends, and still trying to figure  ...

   • 2015, Cheryl Forrester, Carl Sutton, Selective Mutism In Our Own Words: Experiences in Childhood and Adulthood, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 68:

     She told me a story of how the doctor who delivered me told her that I was special ...and I was smart beyond my years. He told her my reflexes were not only on target but better than other babies. I loved this story. For an instant I felt special.

   • 2016, Don Stannard-Friel, Street Teaching in the Tenderloin: Jumpin’ Down the Rabbit Hole, Springer, →ISBN, page 359:

     Of herself, she has said, “Most people who get to know me would say that I am beyond my years, and I do feel that way. All that I have experienced has aged me mentally.” In the opinion of this professor, that translates to: wiser than her years.

   • 2018, Anton Chekhov, The Chorus Girl and Other Stories, BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, page 142:

     Being intelligent beyond my years I soon put two and two together, and understood it all: she had run into the garden, taking advantage of the absence of my stern parents, to steal in among the raspberry bushes, or to pick herself some  ...