wisdom beyond one's years
1
5.1
- idiom
:
sabiduría más allá de los años
- My daughter speaks with a wisdom beyond her years.
Examples
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My daughter speaks with a wisdom beyond her years.
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Helen demonstrates wisdom beyond her years in part by her effective employment of proverbs.
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Helen demonstrates wisdom beyond her years in part by her effective employment of proverbs.
Academic text (2005) -
As she grew older, others considered her to be competent and confident, with wisdom beyond her years; yet that voice continued to whisper: "Never good enough."
Blog text (34) -
As she grew older, others considered her to be competent and confident, with wisdom beyond her years.
Synonyms
11
6.5
Being more mature and wiser than other people the same age
Antonyms
How Mature
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'wisdom' (ability to make sound judgments) combined with 'beyond' (more than) and 'one's years' (relative to someone's age) yields 'having more understanding or maturity than is typical for that age.' This is a common, cross-linguistic construction (exceeding expectations for age), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can reliably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Wisdom beyond one's years may come from the image of a young person who speaks like someone much older, as if their wisdom reaches past their actual years. So it means 'greater understanding or maturity than is usual for someone their age'.