Skip to main content
unprecedented

unprecedented

235 6.3
Has never happened before
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈprɛsɪdɛntɪd/
translation icon : sin precedentes
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented changes in how we work and live.
  • unprecedented levels
  • an unprecedented opportunity
  • unprecedented scale

This is, like I said earlier, an unprecedented human event.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • The end of the Cold War brought an unprecedented level of security to the United States.

    Academic text (2011)
  • That requires an unprecedented effort that Europe has never done before.

  • This is, like I said earlier, an unprecedented human event.

  • The United States is facing unprecedented problems right now.

  • The period between that and present day has seen unprecedented change in technology.

  • That is an unprecedented shift in where we get our information from.

  • We are seeing unprecedented levels of stress in the world.

  • This is an unprecedented step in peacetime.

  • We've seen an unprecedented bubble in home prices.

  • During Reconstruction, America attempted something unprecedented: it gave the former slaves the same political rights as their ex-masters.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

new
vsunprecedented
1.0

Recently made or found and not seen before

highlights absolute absence of any previous instance rather than mere recency
unique
vsunprecedented
3.5

The only one of its kind

concerns lack of earlier instances rather than uniqueness in kind
novel
vsunprecedented
72 5.1

New and different, not seen or done before

emphasizes absence of prior example rather than simply being original
unheard-of
vsunprecedented
57 6.7

Very unusual because it has never happened before

focuses specifically on the fact of no prior example rather than surprise
unparalleled
vsunprecedented
38 6.7

Better than anything else in quality or size

notes absence of prior examples rather than comparison of quality
undreamed of
vsunprecedented
1 7.5

Far greater or more surprising than people ever imagined

states a factual absence of prior examples rather than emotional astonishment
unexampled
vsunprecedented
9.6

Not seen or done before

means the same lack of prior occurrence and carries identical sense

Antonyms

precedented
  • Formal
6.9

An action supported by an earlier example or decision

How New

unprecedented
235 6.3
novel
72 5.1
unusual
2.2
commonplace
54 3.4

Surface Forms

unprecedented positive

Morphology

unprecedented = precedent (transparent) = un + precedent

The meaning is a clear negation of 'precedent' (not having any previous example), which is directly inferable from 'un-' + 'precedent'.

Etymology

Unprecedented is made of un- 'not' and precedent 'an earlier example', and it is related to precede 'to come before'. So, unprecedented means 'never happened before' when there is no earlier example to follow.