ahead of one's time

prepositional phrase

In advance of concurrent commonly accepted ideas; showing characteristics of changes yet to be.

Opposite
before someone's timebehind one's time
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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticIn advance of concurrent commonly accepted ideas; showing characteristics of changes yet to be.

    With his practice of dream interpretation by free association, Freud was both ahead of his time and behind his time.

    1990, Ken Frieden, Freud’s dream of interpretation, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 135, →ISBN

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
before someone's timebehind one's time
Also see
innovative

Translations

Arabic سَابِق عَصْرِه
  • سَابِق عَصْرِه (sābiq ʕaṣrih)in advance of commonly accepted ideas
Chinese Mandarin 先見之明 /先见之明
  • 先見之明 /先见之明 (xiānjiànzhīmíng)in advance of commonly accepted ideas
Danish forud for sin tid
  • forud for sin tidin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Dutch zijn tijd vooruit, zijn tijd ver vooruit
  • zijn tijd vooruitin advance of commonly accepted ideas
  • zijn tijd ver vooruitin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Finnish aikaansa edellä
  • aikaansa edelläin advance of commonly accepted ideas
French en avance sur son temps
  • en avance sur son tempsin advance of commonly accepted ideas
German seiner Zeit vorraus
  • seiner Zeit vorrausin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Hebrew הִקְדִּים אֶת זְמַנּוֹ
  • הִקְדִּים אֶת זְמַנּוֹ (hiqdím et zmanó)in advance of commonly accepted ideas
Norwegian Bokmål forut for sin tid
  • forut for sin tidin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Polish wyprzedzać swoje czasy
  • wyprzedzać swoje czasyin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Portuguese à frente de seu tempo
  • à frente de seu tempoin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Spanish adelantado a su época
  • adelantado a su épocain advance of commonly accepted ideas
Swedish före sin tid
  • före sin tidin advance of commonly accepted ideas
Cite this entry
APA

ahead of one's time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ahead%20of%20one's%20time

MLA

“ahead of one's time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ahead%20of%20one's%20time. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ahead of one's time,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ahead%20of%20one's%20time.

Source: ahead of one's time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.