Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who ventures into unknown or unclaimed territory to settle.
  • noun One who opens up new areas of thought, research, or development.
  • noun A soldier who performs construction and demolition work in the field to facilitate troop movements.
  • noun A species that is typically among the first to become established in a bare, open, or disturbed area.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of early settlers.
  • adjective Leading the way; trailblazing.
  • intransitive verb To venture into (an area) or prepare (a way).
  • intransitive verb To settle (a region).
  • intransitive verb To initiate or participate in the development of.
  • intransitive verb To act as a pioneer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To go before and open (a way); lead or prepare the way to or for.
  • To act as pioneer; clear the way; remove obstructions.
  • noun Milit.. one of a party or company of foot-soldiers who march before or with an army, and are furnished with digging- and cutting-implements, to clear the way of obstructions, repair the roads, dig intrenchments, etc.
  • noun One who or that which goes before and opens and leads or prepares the way for others coming after; specifically, a first or early explorer or experimenter in any department of human enterprise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb To go before, and prepare or open a way for; to act as pioneer.
  • verb to take part in the early development of; to break ground in; to invent or originate.
  • noun (Mil.) A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances.
  • noun One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow
  • noun A person who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress
  • noun obsolete, military A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.
  • noun A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.
  • noun communism A child of 10–16 years in the former Soviet Union, in the second of the three stages in becoming a member of the Communist Party.
  • verb To go before and prepare or open a way for; to act as pioneer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art
  • verb open up an area or prepare a way
  • noun one the first colonists or settlers in a new territory
  • verb take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of
  • verb open up and explore a new area

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French pionnier, from Old French peonier, foot soldier, from peon, from Medieval Latin pedō, pedōn-, from Late Latin, one who has broad feet, from Latin pēs, ped-, foot; see ped- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French pionier ("originally, a foot soldier"), Old French peonier, from peon ("a foot soldier") (modern French: pion). See pawn in chess.

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Examples

  • The term "pioneer" is often thrown around, but it is certainly applicable to Mr. Wheeler.

    Trumpets Taking the City Will Friedwald 2011

  • The title pioneer is usually reserved for members of the heavily armed column of 450 men recruited from South Africa and

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1996

  • Vermeer was a pioneer is the use of optical tools such as the camera obscura.

    Guggenheim Bilbao Shows Dutch Masterpieces Mariana Schroeder 2010

  • O Lord, here I am . . . this is how I understand the true meaning of the word pioneer.

    The Chosen Peoples Todd Gitlin 2010

  • O Lord, here I am . . . this is how I understand the true meaning of the word pioneer.

    The Chosen Peoples Todd Gitlin 2010

  • O Lord, here I am . . . this is how I understand the true meaning of the word pioneer.

    The Chosen Peoples Todd Gitlin 2010

  • (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The Rackspace Cloud (www. rackspace.com) announced on Thursday that it has partnered with FathomDB (www. fathomdb.com), which it calls a pioneer in the realm of database as a service technology, to create a version of FathomDB's cloud database offering using Rackspace's cloud hosting solutions.

    theWHIR.com - Daily Web Hosting News 2009

  • "This is what I call the pioneer spirit," enthused the general, who carries scars from a rocket attack in Iraq.

    chron.com Chronicle 2009

  • Bacardi is known as a pioneer in the social responsibility arena as the Company has had a strong heritage of promoting responsible drinking since its first advertising campaign focused solely on this topic in Mexico in the 1930s - long before social responsibility was on the radar.

    Rahim Kanani: Rafael Nadal: Global Social Responsibility Ambassador for Bacardi Limited Rahim Kanani 2011

  • Bacardi is known as a pioneer in the social responsibility arena as the Company has had a strong heritage of promoting responsible drinking since its first advertising campaign focused solely on this topic in Mexico in the 1930s - long before social responsibility was on the radar.

    Rahim Kanani: Rafael Nadal: Global Social Responsibility Ambassador for Bacardi Limited Rahim Kanani 2011

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