unheard of

unheard of

Extremely uncommon or unusual; beyond belief. Hyphenated if used as a modifier before a noun. His prowess on the balance beam is unheard of. Investors began making unheard-of amounts of money on these risky investments.
See also: of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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]
See also: of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • a round robin
  • round robin
  • eleventh hour
  • heads I win, tails you lose
  • black market
  • a light touch
  • first hand
  • rust bucket
  • good for nothing
  • good-for-nothing
References in periodicals archive
This policy is so special that it covers many things which are unheard of viz.
8 hours work shift, first time in Hospitality Industry
In summarizing the honors that have been bestowed upon him in recent years, Beckwith allows that the book's title, "unheard of," may be an exaggeration.
Unheard Of: Memoirs of a Canadian Composer
Keepers scoring is not unheard of - Hamish French used to take penalties for Dundee United.
GOALIE SCORES TWICE; KEEPER'S FEAT HANDS HIS TEAM VICTORY
To do so for a whole three or four days is pretty much unheard of."
Budget airline in bookings shutdown
While other countries such as Finland and certain segments within the forestry industry already use biomass as part of their energy solutions, it is practically unheard of within the realm of energy production for the Canadian public.
Atikokan's multi-million dollar research centre?
Both the lengthy, seven-week rehearsal schedule for Grendel (almost unheard of in the cash-poor American opera world) and the freedom to create in his own style intrigued Preljocaj, whose dance-theater revisions of Diaghilev-era ballets sealed his American reputation.
Preljocaj meets Grendel
Forest land was opening to public owners, while commercial ownership was still unheard of outside New England.
Tracking a change in forests: a shift is occuring in America's timberlands, and it offers an opportunity to revisit the importance of community woodlands
"It's not unheard of to hear that a child has been swallowed by a python in Zimbabwe because the mother had to keep the child by a tree as she looked for water; it's not unheard of to see children dropping out of school because they have to help their mothers find water."
Water more expensive than gas in Canada, says primate
In perfect English, she told me off, saying it is unheard of in Spain to pay a stranger to do what is expected of family.
Lessons from a native in Spain
Even though it's unheard of that employers would be subjecting employees to testing, it's very timely and likely that an employee could allege that because something was known about their genetic makeup that inappropriate action was taken."
Wearing genes to work
Attorney Meredith Hunter is stunned when the will announces that Rowena's unheard of grandson, corporate raider James Grant Gallagher, will inherit everything; if he refuses the $100 million plus estate will go literally to the dogs.
Savannah Secrets
Following the traditional impregnation approach, this would have been unheard of. To develop the CFi system, Godfrey & Wing set out to eliminate all of the known failure modes in the impregnation process.
Surface-infusion treatment extends life of tool & die casting components
This is almost unheard of since the team consists entirely of upperclassmen and Ryoma is only a 7th grader.
Konomi, Takeshi. The prince of tennis
We know it's not unheard of for the indicator in the receiver meter of your AN/GRC-103 radio to stick.
AN/GRC-103 radio set ..
The history of economic growth is the history of people making more with less and shifting into new jobs that were unheard of in the previous generation.
The case for a dynamic economy