pioneering
Americanadjective
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being a pioneer, one of the first to settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.
This early pioneering family helped open up western Victoria in Australia.
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being among the first in any field of inquiry or activity; being among those spearheading an initiative of some kind.
Ours is a pioneering institution, continually advancing the understanding of medicine through groundbreaking research.
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Ecology. (of an organism) successfully establishing itself in a barren area, thus starting an ecological cycle of life.
Pioneering species can initiate recovery on drastically disturbed sites like that of the former gas plant.
noun
Other Word Forms
- unpioneering adjective
Etymology
Origin of pioneering
First recorded in 1700–10; pioneer ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; pioneer ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Witness Mary Gabriel’s immensely popular book “Ninth Street Women,” and the Denver Art Museum’s pioneering but problematic 2016 exhibition “Women of Abstract Expressionism.”
His father came to the United States from Mexico illegally then became a pioneering Mexican restaurateur in Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles Times
For more than two centuries, the Jurassic Coast has yielded thousands of ichthyosaur fossils, ever since pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning began making historic finds there.
From Science Daily
"Increasing investments and cooperation in matters of renewable energies and critical minerals is at the core of the pioneering agreement that we have signed today," Lula said.
From Barron's
People know them — the pioneering flier and the Teamsters union president — because both of them vanished dramatically.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
