# 空前绝后

kōng qián jué hòu

Be uniquely unmatched before or after

## Meaning & wording

**Literally:** Without precedent and with no successor

**Traditional Chinese:** 空前絕後

**Register:** Grand · emphatic

[Perspective](https://chinese-idioms.yudis.dev/idioms/topics/perspective)

## When to use it

Emphasize an extraordinary scale or achievement.

Future uniqueness cannot normally be verified.

## Understanding the expression

The phrase stretches comparison in both directions: nothing earlier matches the subject, and nothing later will either. Modern use is emphatic praise or dramatic description of an event, record, or achievement. The future half is usually rhetorical rather than provable. It can be enjoyable exaggeration, but formal claims need restraint. Describing the specific record or scale often gives readers more useful information than declaring an achievement permanently beyond all possible comparison.

## Examples

这场演出被赞为空前绝后。

### Traditional Chinese

這場演出被贊為空前絕後。

zhè chǎng yǎn chū bèi zàn wèi kōng qián jué hòu 。

The performance was praised as uniquely unmatched.

他用空前绝后来形容盛典规模。

### Traditional Chinese

他用空前絕後來形容盛典規模。

tā yòng kōng qián jué hòu lái xíng róng shèng diǎn guī mó 。

He called the celebration's scale unprecedented and unmatched.

这样的成绩未必空前绝后。

### Traditional Chinese

這樣的成績未必空前絕後。

zhè yàng de chéng jì wèi bì kōng qián jué hòu 。

Such a result may not be permanently unmatched.

展览呈现了一次空前绝后的合作。

### Traditional Chinese

展覽呈現了一次空前絕後的合作。

zhǎn lǎn chéng xiàn le yí cì kōng qián jué hòu de hé zuò 。

The exhibition presents a uniquely remarkable collaboration.

## Sources & reference checks

Original explanations and examples from Chinese Idioms Almanac. Source-checked October 6, 2026.

- [CC-CEDICT · forms & pronunciation](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdqb=%E7%A9%BA%E5%89%8D%E7%B5%95%E5%BE%8C)

- [Ministry of Education · 成語典](https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomView.jsp?ID=308&webMd=1&la=0)

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