unheard-of

comparative more unheard-of · superlative most unheard-of · alternative unheard of

1. Previously unknown; unprecedented.

   Starvation in the uplands was not an unheard-of thing; […]

   1912 January, Zane Grey, “Silver Spruce and Aspens”, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 114

   3 more examples

   He was […] none of your unconscionable blades, requiring impossible chops, and taking unheard-of pickles for granted.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 10.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 289

   But then, it is not unheard-of for reviewers to berate a writer for writing a book according to his own taste, and not the book the reviewer would have written, if the reviewer were only capable of writing.

   1983 June, Isaac Asimov, “Editorial: Unreasonable!”, in Shawna McCarthy, editor, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 7, number 6 (66 overall), New York, N.Y.: Davis Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 2

   Prohibition produced the immense and previously unheard-of wealth that launched truly organized crime in America.

   2004, Peter Bondanella, chapter 4, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, page 175