Definition of precocious
1 : exceptionally early in development or occurrence precocious puberty
2 : exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age a precocious child
precociously
adverbprecociousness
nounFrom the M-W Editors
Examples of precocious in a Sentence
But what has paleontologists agog is this googol-granddaddy's precocious attributes: most notably the relative flatness of its face, which is more modern-looking than skulls half its age. —Fred Guterl, Newsweek, 22 July 2002
As a boy, I had caught eight-inch-long, juvenile “snapper” blues in Barnegat Bay and marveled at the uncommon strength and speed and the precocious attack instinct within their slender, silver bodies. —Pete Bodo, New York Times, 8 July 2001
… Columbus was still sailing the ocean blue and American English, frisky and rambunctious as a precocious child, was as yet unborn. —Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2000
… no longer certain that my blackness gave me precocious wisdom, or that I could outslick these folks … —Lorene Cary, Black Ice, 1991
She was a precocious child who could read before she went to school.
A precocious musician, he was giving concerts when he was seven.
Recent Examples of precocious from the Web
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But London has long had a reputation for being an incubator for young, precocious talent, and much of the fuss this season was dedicated to nu-romantic designer Charles Jeffrey's latest collection.
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The precocious band had everything Iovine craved: swagger and great stage presence.
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Altman, the precocious investor and new-company coach whose firm helped launch stars like Airbnb, Zenefits, and Dropbox, is using real-world experimentation to learn whether UBI can stand up to such critiques.
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At the heart of Netflix’s latest big swing at prestige movies is an extremely precocious 13-year-old.
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At the heart of Netflix’s latest big swing at prestige movies is an extremely precocious 13-year-old.
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To say that Amanda Steele is a precocious young woman is to seriously underestimate her power.
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At the time, three years ago, forming an ethics board was seen as a precocious move, as if to imply that Hassabis was on the verge of achieving true A.I. Now, not so much.
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His devotion to playing college baseball kept pro baseball organizations from drafting him despite precocious talent in 2014.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'precocious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Precocious got started in Latin when the prefix prae-, meaning "ahead of," was combined with the verb coquere, meaning "to cook" or "to ripen," to form the adjective "praecox," which means "early ripening" or "premature." By 1650, English speakers had turned "praecox" into "precocious" and were using it especially of plants that produced blossoms before their leaves came out. By the 1670s, "precocious" was also being used to describe humans who developed skills or talents before others typically did.
Origin and Etymology of precocious
Latin praecoc-, praecox early ripening, precocious, from prae- + coquere to cook — more at cook
Other Biology Terms
PRECOCIOUS Defined for English Language Learners
precocious
playDefinition of precocious for English Language Learners
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of a child : having or showing the qualities or abilities of an adult at an unusually early age
PRECOCIOUS Defined for Kids
precocious
playDefinition of precocious for Students
: showing qualities or abilities of an adult at an unusually early age
precociously
adverb precociously talentedMedical Dictionary
precocious
playMedical Definition of precocious
1: exceptionally early in development or occurrence precocious puberty
2: exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age
precociously
adverbprecociousness
nounLearn More about precocious
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See words that rhyme with precocious Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for precocious Spanish Central: Translation of precocious Nglish: Translation of precocious for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of precocious for Arabic speakers
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