unprecedented
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of unprecedented
Explanation
Something that is unprecedented is not known, experienced, or done before. If you've never gone on a family beach vacation but you're planning one now, you could refer to it as an unprecedented decision. The root of this word is precedent, a noun referring to something done or said that is used as an example to be followed in the future. In law, a precedent is a legal decision that is used as a standard in future cases. So the adjective unprecedented, meaning "having no precedent," was formed from the prefix un- "not," the noun precedent, and the suffix –ed "having."
Vocabulary lists containing unprecedented
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Fast Food Nation
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Their hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin that animates their AI products — a brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale,” he said.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
That same year, an unprecedented second-place tie in Northern California forced a recount that took almost two months to sort out.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
Malta's Labour party won an unprecedented fourth term Sunday in a victory for outgoing Prime Minister Robert Abela, who had called a snap election in light of geopolitical uncertainties.
From Barron's • May 31, 2026
OpenAI, which kicked off the AI revolution, is staring down unprecedented competition from Google and Claude Code-maker Anthropic, which recently surpassed OpenAI’s valuation.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
Not only do archaeologists like Dobyns, Perttula, and Ramenofsky argue that unrecorded pandemics swept through the Americas, they claim that the diseases themselves were of unprecedented deadliness.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
