To move ahead rapidly by bypassing an intermediate position or stage.
Reach for it when describing a genuine jump in capability rather than ordinary incremental progress
Community broadband could help rural clinics leapfrog unreliable paper referrals.
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| everyday | |
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| formal |
playful
skip a generation
Fits when a technology replaces an older stage entirely
Careful It applies to generational technology shifts, not one rival passing another.
everyday
overtake
Fits when one participant moves ahead of another
Careful Overtake preserves the same path and does not imply skipping a stage.
warm
vault ahead
Fits when a sudden energetic gain deserves vivid language
Careful Vault ahead is figurative and offers no detail about the method.
professional
accelerate
Fits when the same course proceeds at a faster rate
Careful Acceleration still passes through the intervening stages.
professional
bypass
Fits when an obstacle or obsolete step is deliberately avoided
Careful Bypass identifies what is skipped but not the resulting advance.
formal
Fits when performance grows beyond a comparison point
Careful Outstrip expresses superiority without the shortcut or stage-skipping idea.
formal
Fits when the final standard or rival is exceeded
Careful Surpass says nothing about speed or how the gap was crossed.
leapfrog competitors
Reliable service helped the small workshop leapfrog competitors using slower equipment.
leapfrog a stage
The modular course lets experienced learners leapfrog a stage they have already mastered.
leapfrog ahead
Open standards allowed the region to leapfrog ahead without replacing every device.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Commander Keane, Australian accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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