Early vs Precocious - What's the difference?
early | precocious |
At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Arriving a time before expected; sooner than on time.
Near the start or beginning.
*
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Having begun to occur; in its early stages.
At a time before expected; sooner than usual.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
Soon; in good time; seasonably.
* Bible, Proverbs viii. 17
*
A shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.
* 2007 , Paul W. Browning, The Good Guys Wear Blue (page 193)
Characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.
* {{quote-news, year=2014
, date=November 14
, author=Stephen Halliday
, title=Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero
, work=The Scotsman
*
Exhibiting advanced skills at an abnormally early age.
As adjectives the difference between early and precocious
is that early is at a time in advance of the usual or expected event while precocious is characterized by exceptionally early development or maturity.As an adverb early
is at a time before expected; sooner than usual.As a noun early
is a shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.early
English
Adjective
(er)High and wet, passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early , intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}
The attack of the MOOCs, passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
Synonyms
* (at a time in advance of the usual): premature * (near the start): firstAntonyms
* (at a time in advance of the usual): late * : terminalDerived terms
(Derived terms) * earliness * early bath * early bird/the early bird catches the worm * early doors * early grave * early innings * earlyish * Early Latin * early modern * early music * early on * early purple orchid * early retirement * early spider orchid * early syphilis * * early warning radar * early winter cress * early withdrawal * nice and earlyAdverb
(er)- Those that seek me early shall find me.
- You must wake and call me early .
Synonyms
* prematurelyAntonyms
* late, tardilyNoun
(earlies)- On my first day on the watch after leaving the shoplifting squad I paraded on earlies but had completely forgotten to take my ear ring off.
Statistics
*Anagrams
* * 1000 English basic wordsprecocious
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, page= , passage=Scotland’s most encouraging early source of an attacking threat was Andrew Robertson as the precocious left-back charged forward to good effect on a couple of occasions. }}
- Both groups, also, have already evolved precocious (intracapsular) spore germination.
- The precocious child began reading the newspaper at age four.
