Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Manifesting or characterized by unusually early development or maturity, especially in mental aptitude.
- adj. Botany Blossoming before the appearance of leaves.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Ripe before the natural time.
- Ripe in understanding at an early period; prematurely developed; forward: as, a precocious child; precocious faculties.
- Indicative of precocity; characteristic of early maturity; anticipative of greater age; premature.
- In botany, appearing before the leaves: said of flowers.
- In biology, present in an egg or embryo at a very early stage in an imperceptible condition; present before becoming manifest.
- Noting birds that, like chickens, are able to run about as soon as hatched; precocial. See Præcoces.
Wiktionary
- adj. Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.
- adj. Exhibiting advanced skills at an abnormally early age.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Ripe or mature before the proper or natural time; early or prematurely ripe or developed.
- adj. Developed more than is natural or usual at a given age; exceeding what is to be expected of one's years; too forward; -- used especially of mental forwardness
WordNet 3.0
- adj. characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude)
- adj. appearing or developing early
Etymologies
- From Latin praecox, praecoc-, premature, from praecoquere, to boil before, ripen early : prae-, pre- + coquere, to cook, ripen; see pekw- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“I think the term precocious is applicable as is free spirited.”
“The shout of laughter that followed this was not in proportion to the depth but the unexpectedness of the joke, and John Adams went on his way, chuckling at the impudence of what he called the precocious snipe.”
“For a young kid, he's extremely precocious from a standpoint of being a professional pitcher.”
USATODAY.com - Beckett unfazed by hype and early frustrations
“Now those abominations whom you call precocious boys -- your little pet monsters, doctor!”
“Just by singing in English, precocious French duo the Do (pronounced "doe") have sparked a cultural shift in their homeland.”
“I am certain that any 4-year old who not only knows the word precocious, but can also spell and properly use the word, also knows the word “fuck”. reply”
“After the judges called her precocious, the word become the #1 search term on google trends. btw, pre·co·cious: unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: a precocious child.”
“Behaviour that would have been called precocious decades ago and dealt with via discipline now requires doped up youth so that communist teachers don't have to work so hard.”
“From here, we step forward to our own English word precocious, said of a child who has ripened, or matured, early.”
“Byron recalls the precocious feelings of his childhood toward his little cousins -- feelings so strong as to make him lose sleep, appetite, peace; when he describes them, still unable to explain them -- we feel that they were passions much more ethereal with him than with children in general.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘precocious’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 314 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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pre-, prae-
before
precede, precocious, pre-adolescent, predisposition, prepare, prefix, pregame, predict, precaution, precook, preheat, preview and 10 more...
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personality traits
Ways you can behave, think, or feel.
capricious, whimsical, pragmatic, quixotic, petulant, precocious, gregarious, meticulous, spartan, stoic, pious, stalwart
andystardust "I judged, then, that the children of that time were extremely precocious, physically at least, and I found afterwards abundant verification of that opinion."
- H.G. Wells, The Time Machine Dec 17, 2008
uselessness How you will sound if you say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious loud enough. Dec 22, 2006