Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense pioneers, present participle pioneering, past tense, past participle pioneered
1. countable noun [NOUN noun]
Someone who is referred to as a pioneer in a particular area of activity is one of the first people to be involved in itand develop it.
...one of the leading pioneers of British photo journalism. [+ of/in]
...Amelia Earhart, the pioneer pilot.
2. verb
Someone who pioneers a new activity, invention, or process is one of the first people to do it.
...Professor Alec Jeffreys, who invented and pioneered DNA tests. [VERB noun]
Marine biologists have pioneered a technique to grow man-made coral gardens. [VERB noun]
...the folk-tale writing style pioneered by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. [VERB-ed]
[Also VERB]
Synonyms: develop, create, launch, establish More Synonyms of pioneer
3. countable noun
Pioneers are people who leave their own country or the place where they were living, and go and live in a place that has not been lived in before.
...abandoned settlements of early European pioneers.
Synonyms: settler, explorer, colonist, colonizer More Synonyms of pioneer
More Synonyms of pioneer
pioneer in British English
(ˌpaɪəˈnɪə)
noun
1.
a.
a colonist, explorer, or settler of a new land, region, etc
b.
(as modifier)
a pioneer wagon
2.
an innovator or developer of something new
3. military
a member of an infantry group that digs entrenchments, makes roads, etc
4. ecology
the first species of plant or animal to colonize an area of bare ground
verb
5.
to be a pioneer (in or of)
6. (transitive)
to initiate, prepare, or open up
to pioneer a medical programme
Word origin
C16: from Old French paonier infantryman, from paonpawn2; see also peon1
Pioneer in British English
(ˌpaɪəˈnɪə)
noun
1.
a total abstainer from alcoholic drink, esp a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, a society devoted to abstention
2.
any of a series of US spacecraft that studied the solar system, esp Pioneer 10, which made the first flyby of Jupiter (1973), and Pioneer 11, which made the first flyby of Saturn (1979)
pioneer in American English
(ˌpaɪəˈnɪr)
noun
1. Archaic
a member of a military engineer unit trained to construct or demolish bridges, roads, trenches, etc.
2. US
a person who goes before, preparing the way for others, as an early settler or a scientist doing exploratory work
3.
a plant, animal, etc. that starts a new cycle of life in a barren area
adjective
4.
being one of the first of its kind
5.
of or characteristic of the settlers of a new territory