Word.ws English Dictionary

two steps ahead

two steps ahead phrase: having cleverly anticipated what others will do or think.

Phrase

two steps ahead

  1. (idiomatic) Having cleverly anticipated what others will do or think.
    • During strategy discussions,I feel two steps ahead and often believe discussions are wasting time and slowing progress.2009, Elaine Biech -, The 2010 Pfeiffer Annual: Training, →ISBN
    • “You'll need more help than Dave and Frank can give, just to get it down from the truck, over the lawn and inside,” she said practically. “Two steps ahead of you, M'lady. I stopped by the grocery store, so Dave knows to come home and help."2013, Hadley Hoover, Storm Path, →ISBN, page 9
  2. Just barely escaping.
    • He's supposed to have raped and kilt a woman when he was 'bout fourteen or fifteen and had to flee, two steps ahead of the law2011, William W. Johnstone, Law of the Mountain Man, →ISBN
    • From the dryout farm, Tunney had moved down to the border, mooched around in cantinas for a while, then left the country two steps ahead of the sheriff of some Rio Grande jerkwater.2015, Kim Newman, The Night Mayor, →ISBN

Examples of two steps ahead in a sentence

  • Littlefinger is telling her to be a little more like Cersei, always two steps ahead.2017 July 30, Ali Barthwell, “Ice and fire finally meet in a front-loaded episode of Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:
  • Two steps ahead, I am always two steps ahead.2024 September 6, Nicholas Perry, “Two Steps Ahead”, in Nikocado Avocado:

Questions about two steps ahead

What does two steps ahead mean?
Two steps ahead means having cleverly anticipated what others will do or think.
How do you use two steps ahead in a sentence?
Littlefinger is telling her to be a little more like Cersei, always two steps ahead.
What part of speech is two steps ahead?
Two steps ahead is a phrase.

Words near two steps ahead in the dictionary

  1. two sides of the same coin
  2. two slips of latinum
  3. two solitudes
  4. two spirit
  5. two spirits
  6. two steps ahead
  7. two swords
  8. two tears in a bucket
  9. two thirds
  10. two thousand
  11. two thousand and late

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: two steps ahead (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-two steps ahead.ogg.

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