- 1pioneer (in/of something) a person who is the first to study and develop a particular area of knowledge, culture, etc. that other people then continue to develop synonym trailblazer a pioneer in the field of microsurgery a computer pioneer a pioneer aviator a pioneer design (= one that introduces new ideas, methods, etc.) Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveearly, true pioneer + nounspirit prepositionpioneer in, pioneer of See full entry
- 2one of the first people to go to a particular area in order to live and work there the pioneer spirit Wordfinderexplorecolonize, discover, explore, pioneer, reconnaissance, scout, settle, terrain, territory, voyage Word Originearly 16th cent. (as a military term denoting a member of the infantry): from French pionnier ‘foot soldier, pioneer’, Old French paonier, from paon, from Latin pedo, pedon- ‘foot soldier’, from Latin pes, ped- ‘foot’.Extra examples one of the early pioneers in plastic surgery Early pioneers settled on both sides of the Maple River. He is known as a pioneer in veterinary surgery. He was one of the pioneers in opening up archaeology to everyone. I was lucky to meet the heart transplant pioneer, Dr Christian Barnard. In the 1880s, he spent several years as a pioneer missionary in north China. Modern guitar design owes a lot to the pioneer designs of the forties and fifties. She later became a pioneer of education for women. The school was an early pioneer of the technique.
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