unparalleled
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of unparalleled
Explanation
If something's unparalleled, there's never been anything like it — such as a brilliant musical performance or a record-breaking time for an athlete. Remember parallel lines from your old geometry classes — lines running alongside each other always at the same distance that never meet and are essentially identical? Well, that's the idea unparalleled comes from — except the opposite (thus the "un"). Sporting achievements are particularly prone to being described as unparalleled, since athletes are always out to break records.
Vocabulary lists containing unparalleled
Frindle
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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Herbert Hoover on "Rugged Individualism" (1928)
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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.
Unparalleled natural beauty with water, mountains and trees!
From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2022
In “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall,” which Poe also claimed was a true story, the hero visits the moon in a hot-air balloon.
From Washington Post • Aug. 14, 2022
Unparalleled in its scope and ambition, “The Journey of Humanity” explains the whole of human history as an inevitable progression from the first primitive tools to supercomputers in every pocket.
From Washington Post • Apr. 29, 2022
Unparalleled reggae will be provided by Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb of the Channel One Soundsystem while Skream & Benga bring Joker & MC Nomad & Artwork to set up the stall for dubstep.
From The Guardian • Oct. 8, 2010
"Unparalleled misfortune overtook me—I stepped aside, but the world never waits; I was a cog discarded from the mechanism of society—" He was so pleased with the metaphor that he repeated it.
From The Prodigal Judge by Kester, Vaughan
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.
