… on one occasion, a president (Eisenhower) refers to himself as "conservative." Four years later, the Republican presidential nominee (Goldwater) announces that he is "a conservative." Another sixteen years later, Ronald Reagan, a self-declared conservative, is elected president by an overwhelming majority. By that time—1980—more Americans identify themselves as conservatives than as liberals. This was, and remains, a tectonic transformation, unprecedented in American history. John Lukacs, Harper's, March 2008Faced with an unprecedented crisis that combines cyclical turbulence with metastasizing digital technology that steals away revenue and readers at an alarming and seemingly accelerating rate (while offering newspapers only stingy payoffs), publishers and editors everywhere have thrown away their rule books—and, to find their way in this new and alien environment, are ready to implement previously unthinkable changes. Mark Fitzgerald et al., Editor & Publisher, August 2008Many of the forces that initially sent the economy into a tailspin in 1929 and 1930 have been at work in the 2000s as well: a stock-market boom turned bust, a real estate boom turned bust, unprecedented levels of consumer debt. Justin Fox, Time, 10 Mar. 2008Shakespeare served as exemplar of the writer who achieved success, and an unprecedented degree of financial reward, from his pen alone. Jonathan Bate, Harper's, April 2007Fan fiction … was once mainly a fringe pursuit. Now, it's changing the world of fiction, as Internet exposure helps unknown authors find mainstream success. Some Web sites are attracting unprecedented numbers of readers and, in some cases, leading to book deals. John Jurgensen, Wall Street Journal, 16–17 Sept. 2006Shocking as it is, more than a month after the hurricane hit, New Orleans is still, for all practical purposes, a ghost town. The entire population has left—an unprecedented situation in modern times in any major city anywhere. Tom Piazza, Why New Orleans Matters, 2005 The team has enjoyed unprecedented success this year. This level of growth is unprecedented. An unprecedented number of students are taking the class. See More
Recent Examples on the WebThe Trumpian Stop the Steal movement is unprecedented for its scale, its longevity, its resistance to established facts, and its embrace of violence as a mechanism to overturn the will of the voters.Time, 20 Sep. 2022 The hearing comes after a primary cycle marked by an unprecedented deluge of mail-in ballots and extended delays that took nearly a month to certify results. Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2022 Facing an unprecedented public health crisis, law enforcement is under enormous pressure to demonstrate to the public that its efforts are making a difference. Zachary Siegel, The New Republic, 20 Sep. 2022 Amid unprecedented growth and streaming of the genre both domestically and worldwide, Latin Music Week returns to Miami for its 32nd edition. Leila Cobo, Billboard, 19 Sep. 2022 In her order, Cannon said they could be scrutinized not only for any potentially covered by attorney-client privilege, a relatively common measure, but also for executive privilege, which would be unprecedented in a federal criminal inquiry. Alan Feuer, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2022 The protests in 2020 were unprecedented in US history. Brandon Tensley, CNN, 8 Sep. 2022 The amount being invested in roads this year is unprecedented in recent memory. Carrie Napoleon, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2022 Put simply, Biden's announcement is unprecedented in the nation's history of student borrowing. Joey Garrison, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2022 See More