out of one's league

English[edit]

In a situation in which one is mismatched with one or more others whose accomplishments, preparedness, or other characteristics are on a significantly higher or lower level than one's own.
- 1987, Patrick Swayze; Stacy Widelitz (lyrics and music), “She's Like the Wind”, performed by Patrick Swayze:
  Feel her breath in my face / Her body close to me / Can't look in her eyes / She's out of my league
- 2008 June 3, Laura Collins-Hughes, “Neil LaBute Finds Reasons To Be Nice”, in New York Sun‎^[1] (theatre review):
  He has an unwitting instructor in his cocky, bullying co-worker and pal, Kent (Pablo Schreiber), a slimeball whose knockout wife, Carly (Piper Perabo), is way out of his league.
Out of one's depth; in a situation which one is poorly prepared to handle.
- 1964 May 15, “Also Current (book reviews)”, in Time‎^[2], archived from the original on 2012-03-07:
  Most U.S. authors trying to depict European sophistication seem indefinably out of their league, like children sashaying around in grown-up shoes.
These questions are out of my league, please let me ask a higher-up.
Too good or too expensive for one.
An expensive car is out of your league right now, don't you think?

in a situation in which one is mismatched with one or more others

Finnish: eri sarjassa
German: eine Nummer zu groß für jemanden
Russian: далеко́ (до) (ru) (dalekó (do)) (too far (for somebody)) (мне до неё далеко́ - she's out of my league)

in a situation which one is poorly prepared to handle

Finnish: heikolla jäällä
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} a fi depășit
Russian: не по зуба́м (ru) (ne po zubám) (lit.: "not for one's teeth"), не по плечу́ (ne po plečú) (lit.: "not on one's shoulder")

too good or too expensive