pioneer

[[t]pa͟ɪ͟ənɪ͟ə(r)[/t]]

pioneers, pioneering, pioneered

1) N-COUNT: oft N of/in n, N n Someone who is referred to as a pioneer in a particular area of activity is one of the first people to be involved in it and develop it.

...one of the leading pioneers of British photo journalism...

What they lacked in speed those pioneer pilots made up for by flying only a few feet above the ground.

2) VERB Someone who pioneers a new activity, invention, or process is one of the first people to do it.

[V n] ...Professor Alec Jeffreys, who invented and pioneered DNA tests...

[V n] The campaigns are part of American-style innovations being pioneered by the new universities...

[V-ed] In the end, the battle followed the pattern pioneered by the Russians themselves during World War II. [Also V]

3) N-COUNT 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.