beyond

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Old English beġeondan
Middle English biyonde
English beyond

    From Middle English biyonde, from Old English beġeondan, from be- +‎ ġeond; related to yonder.

    Pronunciation

    Preposition

    beyond

    1. Further away than.
    2. On the far side of.
      No swimming beyond this point.
      • 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
        England were graphically illustrating the huge gulf in class between the sides and it was no surprise when Lampard added the second just before the half hour. Steven Gerrard found his Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson and Lampard arrived in the area with perfect timing to glide a header beyond Namasco.
    3. Later than; after.
    4. Greater than; so as to exceed or surpass.
      Your staff went beyond my expectations in refunding my parking ticket.
      • 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, →ISBN, page 55:
        He was a painter who was trying to get beyond painting, to escape from purely visual experience and lead his art in a more conceptual direction with a systematic approach.
    5. In addition to; supplementing.
      She had no reason for the conviction beyond the very inadequate one that she had seen him around London.
    6. (figurative) Past, or out of reach of.
      You won't last beyond my first punch.
      The patient was beyond medical help.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
        Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
      • 1962 March, J. M. Tolson, “The Netherlands Railways today—I”, in Modern Railways, page 172:
        The 1300 class (Nos. 1301-16), one of which was damaged beyond repair in an accident, are Co-Cos, weigh 111 tons and have a top speed of 85 m.p.h.
    7. (figurative) Not within the comprehension of.
      He understood geometry well, but algebraic topology was beyond him.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Derived terms

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    See also

    Adverb

    beyond (not comparable)

    1. Farther along or away.
      Synonyms: ayond, (obsolete) ayont
      next year and beyond
    2. In addition; more.
    3. (informal) extremely, more than
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:extremely
      • 2009, Jenny Lee, Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 7:
        But to then write about his allegedly fat girlfriend was beyond stupid, because by doing so he was in fact engaging a woman (me) in the “Am I fat?” discussion, which he supposedly realized he should never do.
      • 2017 July 13, Joseph Gamp, “Marvel release stirring new set images of Black Panther and we are BEYOND excited”, in Metro‎[2], archived from the original on 28 December 2024:
        Marvel release stirring new set images of Black Panther and we are BEYOND excited [title]
      • 2021 September 1, Michael Levenson, Anne Barnard, quoting Mark Levine, “Scenes from New York City as Ida paralyzes region”, in The New York Times‎[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 October 2025:
        “We are BEYOND not ready for climate change,” Mark Levine, a City Council representative, declared on Twitter.

    Translations

    Noun

    beyond (plural beyonds)

    1. The unknown.
    2. The hereafter.
    3. Something that is far beyond.
      • 2006, Haun Saussy, American Comparative Literature Association, Comparative Literature in an Age of Globalization‎[4]:
        And that is perhaps why I am constantly searching for great beyonds — beyonds that will permit the application of different theoretical models (be they semiotically-inspired, gender-inspired, sexuality-inspired, and so on) beyond any disciplinary confines.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    References

    1. ^ Bingham, Caleb (1808), “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] ‎[1], 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 75.

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