a hundred years too early
- idiom
:
cien años demasiado pronto
- He felt his research was a hundred years too early for anyone to appreciate.
Examples
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Some inventions are considered a hundred years too early to be accepted by society.
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The artist's unique style was seen as a hundred years too early for the art world.
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Her ideas were a hundred years too early for the audience.
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Why do you think his invention was a hundred years too early?
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He felt his research was a hundred years too early for anyone to appreciate.
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Some inventions are considered a hundred years too early to be accepted by society.
-
The artist's unique style was seen as a hundred years too early for the art world.
Synonyms
241
1.0
Before the right time to do something
120
4.5
Happening before the usual time or before it is ready
17
7.4
Having ideas or work more modern than most people of the time
Antonyms
How Early
- Informal
4
5.6
17
7.4
∞
1.0
- Informal
321
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
a + hundred + years + too + early
The meaning 'far ahead of current time or trends' is directly compositional: 'a hundred years' provides a long temporal distance and 'too early' means occurring before the appropriate time, so together they convey being much earlier than the era requires. This numeric-exaggeration + temporal construction is a standard, cross-linguistically common compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase a hundred years too early creates a simple picture: imagine showing a new idea a hundred years too early, like a phone in 1920. That's why it means 'far ahead of its time' or 'too early to be accepted'.