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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.


early adopter British  

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of early adopter

First recorded in 1845–50

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.

See Examples For:

Canadian YouTuber Lauren Southern, for instance, was an early adopter of pick-me conservatism whose first video, posted when she was 19, was titled “Why I’m not a feminist.”

From Salon Jul. 27, 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

"We recognise that experiences of accessing medicines can vary, and we welcome the move towards a national formulary, of which we are an early adopter site, and aims to support greater consistency across the NHS."

From BBC Jun. 29, 2026

Morgan Asset Management, an early adopter of derivative strategies.

From The Wall Street Journal May 4, 2026

Its corporate communications “was an early adopter and leverages the technology in a number of areas including copy-editing and proofreading, complementing rigorous team member reviews.”

From Barron's Apr. 14, 2026

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