It takes wisdom to a whole new level.

[VadimR]

She was impressed by their resilience and humor: “It takes wisdom to a whole new level.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/s...emory.html?rref=collection/column/matter&_r=0

What does this mean?

 

[Copyright]

It's saying that their resilience and humor took the idea of wisdom to a level above wisdom (which has no name here). We say that about something that surpasses what we normally think of as the topmost (or sometimes bottommost) level.

Many kids are hungry for an education, but Wing's five-mile trek every morning and afternoon across mountainous terrain takes determination to a whole new level.

In the other direction, there's a line I like from a TripAdvisor review of the Hotel Ancon in Trinidad: "Takes the meaning of 'basic' to a whole new level."

 

[VadimR]

Thank you! =)