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.
"As a performer he was unparalleled – witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny. We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver's crew," it added.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
But when it comes to The Beatles’ unparalleled legacy, “Revolver” finds the bandmates on an unimpeded trajectory towards greatness.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Together, these 492 caves covered in over 400,000 square feet of murals form an unparalleled palimpsest of a millennium of Chinese art history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
When it is tied to "an unparalleled moral eminence", he wrote, a fast unto death "amounts to blackmail".
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Indeed, how can one understand losses of such unparalleled scope?
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.
