unheard-of

• unheard of

unheard-of (comparative more unheard-of, superlative most unheard-of)

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

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

   • 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:

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

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

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