adjective
“coming or occurring without advance notice : UNEXPECTED”– Merriam-Webster dictionary
This word was encountered in the article “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found” by COLSON WHITEHEAD
The sentence it was used in is”If you had known, perhaps you would have stepped behind the counter and shaken everyone’s hand, pulled out the disposable camera and issued posing instructions. But you had no idea. There are unheralded tipping points, a certain number of times that we will unlock the front door of an apartment. At some point you were closer to the last time than you were to the first time, and you didn’t even know it. You didn’t know that each time you passed the threshold you were saying goodbye.”
The author was trying to describe how when we don’t pay attention to the environment around us. We take it for granted that the store, monument or item will always be there forever. Everyone has a personal New York city so the things that you pass by the most you never really expected to change but when it does it comes unheralded which means unexpectedly. The author also brings the idea that everyone’s New York is different, so even if the shops around us change we will always remember it as that the first store we saw it as but other tourists, and people moving in won’t see the location the way you do.
