pioneer

Meanings

Plural: pioneers

Noun

• someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art
• one the first colonists or settlers in a new territory
  • "they went west as pioneers with only the possessions they could carry with them"
• One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.
• A person or other entity who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.
• A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.
• A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.
• A member of a children’s organization operated by the Communist Party, typically in the second of three stages toward becoming a member of the Party itself.
• Alternative letter-case form of Pioneer (“A Singaporean born on or before 31 December 1949, who is entitled to various healthcare and social support schemes.”).

Verb

• open up an area or prepare a way
  • "She pioneered a graduate program for women students"
• take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of
  • "This South African surgeon pioneered heart transplants"
• open up and explore a new area
  • "pioneer space"
• To be the first to do or achieve (something), preparing the way for others to follow.

Synonyms

break new ground, groundbreaker, initiate, innovator, open up, push the envelope, trailblazer