precocity

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"Already most people recognize the detrimental results of intellectual precocity; but there remains to be recognized the truth that there is a moral precocity which is also detrimental.

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Definitions (2)

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  1. The state or character of being precocious; premature growth or development; early ripeness, especially of the mental powers. Some … imputing the cause of it [his fall] to a precocity of spirit and valour in him. Howell, Vocall Forrest, p. 77. To the usual precocity of the girl, she added that early experience of struggle … which is the lot of every imaginative and passionate nature. George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iv. 2. The term precocity, as applied by biologists to individuals, explains a similar phenomenon as applied to societies. Claude Bernard tells us that the force of development is greatest in the inferior animals, and that this precocity is an evidence of inferiority, and excludes longevity. Science, III. 339.

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Examples (50)

  • The record of Mozart's youthful triumphs might be extended at great length; but aside from the proof they furnish of his extraordinary precocity, they have lent little vital significance in the great problem of his career, except so far as they stimulated the marvelous boy to lay a deep foundation for his greater future, which, short as it was, was fruitful in undying results. —  The Great German Composers
  • Mary took great delight in Elizabeth's infant precocity, and on one occasion wrote to inform their father that 'My sister Elizabeth is in good health and, thanks be to Our Lord, such a child toward as I doubt not Your Highness shall have cause to rejoice of in time coming.' —  TheChildrenof
  • Iris 'culinary precocity is at least partly planned.
  • "Genius, in the popular conception, is inextricably tied up with precocity -- doing something truly creative, we're inclined to think, requires the freshness and exuberance and energy of youth." —  ArtsJournal: Daily Arts News
  • It may be either a result or a cause of sexual precocity, and may come from undue handling of the genital parts or from a morbid state of health. —  Sex Avoided subjects Discussed in Plain English
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. = French précocité = Spanish precosidad = Portuguese precocidade = Italian precocità, from Latin as if *præcocita(t-)s, from præcox, early ripe: see precoce, precocious.
 

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