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unprecedented

UK/ʌnˈpɹɛsɪdɛntɪd/US/ʌnˈpɹɛsɪdɛntɪd/
adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,759 of 15,258leans written

Unprecedented means never having happened before in all history. An unprecedented step, unprecedented demand, truly unprecedented.

It is a strong claim and it is made far too easily — unprecedented in living memory and unprecedented since records began are the honest versions, and records rarely go back very far. In law it means no earlier case governs, which is a precise and consequential thing to say. Note precedent; and that unprecedented is that word negated.

Definitions of unprecedented

  1. 1adjectiveunprecedentedNever having happened before in all history.C1

    “The storm brought unprecedented flooding to the old town centre.”

unprecedented is a quality of being first.

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    praecēdēns

  2. English

    precedent

  3. English, today

    unprecedented

Built from

  • praecedo · Latin — to precede

From un- + precedent + -ed. precedent comes from Middle French -, from Old French -, from Latin praecēdēns, present participle of praecedo (“to precede”); See precede.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

unprecedented in the wild

  • The mission relieved Soyuz T-13, whose crew had performed unprecedented repairs aboard the previously-dead station.

    Soyuz T-14

  • Despite the unprecedented bid for a third term, Roosevelt was nominated on the first ballot.

    1940 Democratic National Convention

  • "Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years".

    IPCC Fifth Assessment Report

  • Roosevelt was easily re-elected to an unprecedented fourth term, and the Democratic Party retained their majorities in both chambers of Congress.

    1944 United States elections

  • Incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos won an unprecedented second full term as President of the Philippines.

    1969 Philippine general election

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the praecedo family

precedentunprecedented

unprecedented — used about once every 2,103 pages · #6,759 · point at the bar for the others