ahead of one's/its time

phrase

: too advanced or modern to be understood or appreciated during the time when one lives or works

As a director, he was ahead of his time. His movies are now regarded as classics, but they were unpopular when he made them.

Examples of ahead of one's/its time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The movie had a lot of special effects, including a computer with no keyboard and a virtual reality interface that was well ahead of its time. — Emil Sayegh, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2023

But really, the idea was just way ahead of its time, as many people consider the Simon to be the world’s first smartphone. — Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 20 Oct. 2022

Looking back now, not even a decade after its Broadway premiere, Kinky Boots seems ahead of its time. — Joe Lynch, Billboard, 1 Sep. 2022

So for those listeners who remember what that product was, that was a PDA way, way, way ahead of its time. — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2022