get ahead of oneself

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To do or plan something too quickly, before being ready

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Làm hoặc lên kế hoạch quá nhanh, trước khi sẵn sàng

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: move forward before oneself
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She got ahead of herself and booked the tickets before checking the schedule

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Common questions

What does “get ahead of oneself” mean?

To do or plan something too quickly, before being ready Literally: move forward before oneself

Is “get ahead of oneself” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“cầm đèn chạy trước ô tô” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.