precocious
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin praecox (“premature, precocious, ripe before time, early ripe”), from praecoquere (“to ripen beforehand, ripen fully, also boil beforehand”), from prae (“before”) + coquere (“to cook, boil, ripen”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
precocious (comparative more precocious, superlative most precocious)
- Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.
- The precocious plant was already blooming flowers by day 4.
- 2014 November 14, Stephen Halliday, “Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero”, in The Scotsman[1]:
- Scotland’s most encouraging early source of an attacking threat was Andrew Robertson as the precocious left-back charged forward to good effect on a couple of occasions.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 5:
- Both groups, also, have already evolved precocious (intracapsular) spore germination.
- Exhibiting advanced skills and aptitudes at an abnormally early age.
- The precocious child began reading the newspaper at age four.
- 1964, Sherman Brothers, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, Mary Poppins, Walt Disney Mary: Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious / If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity
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exhibiting advanced skills at an abnormally early age
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- precocious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- precocious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- precocious at OneLook Dictionary Search
