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• unheard-of
  unheard-of

  adjective

  that was never heard of; unknown.
• unheard of
  unheard of

  Very unusual, extraordinary, as in It's unheard of to have all one's money refunded two years after the purchase. This expression alludes to a circumstance so unusual that it has never been heard of. [Late 1500s]

unheard-of

American  

[uhn-hurd-uhv, -ov, -uhv] / ʌnˈhɜrdˌʌv, -ˌɒv, -əv /

adjective

1. that was never heard of; unknown.

   an unheard-of artist.

2. such as was never known before; unprecedented.

   an unheard-of salary.

3. shocking or outrageous.

   unheard-of conduct.

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unheard-of British  

adjective

1. previously unknown

   an unheard-of actress

2. without precedent

   an unheard-of treatment

3. highly offensive

   unheard-of behaviour

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unheard of Idioms  

1. Very unusual, extraordinary, as in It's unheard of to have all one's money refunded two years after the purchase. This expression alludes to a circumstance so unusual that it has never been heard of. [Late 1500s]

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Etymology

Origin of unheard-of

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

unheard-of unheard of

Stephen Miran, the April vote was 8-4, an almost unheard-of level of disagreement on the consensus-driven FOMC.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

On Wednesday, Five Below reported nearly 23% same-store sales growth, an unheard-of number for a retailer that is now 23 years old.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

Perhaps one of Parling's greatest achievements, though, has been to bring largely unheard-of players to the fore.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

"That's an unheard-of pace of innovation in developing complex structural alloys."

From Science Daily ● Mar. 10, 2026

Hitler, although an unusual name, is not unheard-of in South Africa.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

Seeing such a slithery tourist this far north is rare but not unheard of.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

It’s unheard of, an abuse of power, and demoralizing to make senior leadership submit to testing en masse.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy also told the programme "the idea that an academic would be dragged through this amount of media scrutiny is unheard of".

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Schroden said he had seen "reports of similar events occasionally over the past couple of decades" and that "it's rare but not unheard of, though tragic in every case."

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

Patenting cell lines is standard today, but it was unheard of in the fifties; regardless, it seems unlikely that Gey would have patented HeLa.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

• exceptional
• inconceivable
• little-known
• unbelievable
• undiscovered
• unprecedented