to get ahead of oneself
10
8.3
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
adelantarse
- But I get ahead of myself.
Examples
-
I am getting ahead of myself, however.
Academic text (2002) -
But she was getting ahead of herself.
Fiction book (2001) -
Before you get ahead of yourself, look around you.
-
I am totally getting ahead of myself.
-
Totally, I get ahead of myself sometimes.
-
I just got ahead of myself.
-
But I got ahead of myself.
-
I got ahead of myself again.
-
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Fiction book (1993) -
Before you get ahead of oneself, it's important to consider all the facts first.
Synonyms
29
5.3
To act before the right time, often too soon
Antonyms
How Hasty
7
7.2
- Informal
10
8.3
63
3.9
∞
1.0
16
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'get' + 'ahead' transparently convey moving forward or making progress and 'oneself' makes this self-directed, so a learner can infer the idea of being 'ahead of where one actually is.' However, the specific pragmatic sense of acting prematurely or assuming future success is an extended/metaphorical reading that may not be fully predictable without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Get ahead of oneself comes from the image of someone moving so fast they step in front of their own feet, so they are literally get ahead of oneself. So it means 'acting too soon' or starting to plan and celebrate before something has really happened.