early adopter

American  

[ur-lee uh-dop-ter] / ˈɜr li əˈdɒp tər /

noun

1. a person who uses a new product or technology before it becomes widely known or used.

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early adopter British  

noun

1. one of the first people or organizations to make use of a new technology

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Etymology

Origin of early adopter

First recorded in 1845–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

early adopter

Salesforce, as Slack’s parent company, is an early adopter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Lan was an early adopter, diversifying his crop two decades ago and now boasting 400 durian trees in Ea Knuec commune, part of Dak Lak province.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

Amazon, an early adopter, was hiring a principal AI executive to drive AI-tool adoption across production, plus roles in operations automation and LLM content classification, the listings revealed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

I was an early adopter of “bop” back when we were still using the word to classify the singular bounciness of Carly Rae Jepsen songs in 2015.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

"I'm an early adopter of new technology," says Gavin Tait, a 69-year-old from Glasgow, with a hint of pride.

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026