I keep hearing it on the radio and television and when reading the news. This, that or the other thing are all "unprecedented." Two frequent areas where the word is being used is with the behavior of President Trump and climate change, although not normally in the same context or story.
The impacts of climate change, such as temperatures rising in the air and in the water, ice melt from glaciers in Greenland and the disruption of many species of plants, insects, fish, animals, etc. Each year, there are new records being set and thus they become reported as "unprecedented."
On the political side of things, there certainly has been an "unprecedented" number of Democrats vying for their party's presidential nomination. Last, one only needs to watch and listen to President Trump to watch "new precedents" being set and old ones destroyed.
If the word "unprecedented" is being used, it means change is happening. Change, rapid change like we are seeing in today's world, is driving the use of the word "unprecedented." I would also note that use of the word "unprecedented" in 2019 typically involves some form of negative action or activity.
Hopefully, 2020 will be a little bit less "unprecedented" in what happens in the world. However, I'm not expecting much to change as it relates to what causes the word to be used.
