unprecedented
/ʌnˈprɛsɪdɛntɪd
/adjective
Never done or known before: the government took the unprecedented step of releasing confidential correspondence...
- Now two victims have taken the unprecedented step of suing the Vatican itself.
- We put together an unprecedented ground operation, but it was matched by the zealots on the right.
- Since it was unique and unprecedented the coin was dismissed as a modern hoax.
Synonyms
unparalleled, unequalled, unmatched, unrivalled, without parallel, without equal;
extraordinary, uncommon, out of the ordinary, unusual, outstanding, striking, exceptional, prodigious, abnormal, singular, remarkable, unique, anomalous, atypical, untypical, freakish;
unheard of, unknown, novel, original, new, groundbreaking, revolutionary, pioneering
informal one of a kind
rare unexampled
Derivatives
unprecedentedly
/ adverb [as submodifier]: a period of unprecedentedly high prices...
- Though his first Wal-Marts were chaotic, with goods piled high on tables, the stores charged unprecedentedly low prices, and crowds flocked to them, some traveling hundreds of miles to shop.
- The subsidies they received from the Chinese state did not exceed WTO dictates, but were enough for them to buy grain from peasants at unprecedentedly low prices and then sell it at a handsome profit on the international market.
- At first his term of office was for five years, which was later extended to ten, an unprecedentedly long period.