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• explorer
  explorer

  noun

  a person or thing that explores.
• Explorer
  Explorer

  noun

  a member of the senior branch of the Scouts

explorer

American  

[ik-splawr-er] / ɪkˈsplɔr ər /

noun

explorers plural

1. a person or thing that explores.

2. a person who investigates unknown regions.

   the great explorers of the Renaissance.

3. any instrument used in exploring or sounding a wound, a cavity in a tooth, or the like.

4. Also called Explorer Scout.  (initial capital letter) a person between the ages 14 and 20 who is an active participant in the exploring program sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America.

5. (initial capital letter) one of a long series of U.S. scientific satellites: Explorer 1 (1958) was the first U.S. artificial satellite.

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Explorer ¹ British  

/ ɪkˈsplɔːrə /

noun

1. Brit equivalent: Venture Scout.  a member of the senior branch of the Scouts

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Explorer ² British  

/ ɪkˈsplɔːrə /

noun

1. any of the first series of US satellites. Explorer 1 , launched in 1958, confirmed the existence of intense radiation belts around the earth

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• explorers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of explorer

First recorded in 1675–85; explore + -er ¹

Explanation

An explorer is a person who sets out to discover something by going somewhere unfamiliar. You might think Marco Polo is just a game to play in the pool, but Marco Polo was actually a famous explorer in the 13th century. In ancient Greece, the explorer Pytheas travelled to what is now Great Britain and Germany, and the Chinese explorer Wang Dayuan explored the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea in the second century BCE. More recently, explorers have voyaged to the moon and outer space. Before the late seventeenth century, this kind of adventurer was called an exploratour, from the Latin root explorare, "examine or investigate."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

explorer Explorer explorers

“In the 14th century A.D., a Moroccan explorer named Ibn Battuta documented that a buttery variation of khichuri was eaten daily in South Asia,” wrote Rachael Grow for Mashed.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026

This docuseries was created by National Geographic explorer Bertie Gregory, a cinematographer for legendary nature filmmaker David Attenborough, who knows how to dazzle with close-up imagery.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026

The species name Megachelicerax cousteaui honors French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026

The ambitious gothic Netflix film featured an Arctic explorer ship frozen on the ice, and Frankenstein's horror lab on top of a Victorian water tower.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026

More than a century later the French explorer La Salle canoed down the Mississippi.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

A federal government employee living outside of Los Angeles, Arevalo recently set out to replace his fuel-thirsty Ford Explorer SUV.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

He secured a $4-million legal victory for three victims in the Irwindale Explorer program in 2018.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

Maghull Coaches has agreements to provide City Explorer open top bus tours as well as a Beatles Tour - and sets its prices at the beginning of the season.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026

While Ford sales are down 5% overall year-to-date, sales of its three biggest sport-utility vehicles—the Expedition, Explorer and Bronco—are up around 30% for the same period.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026

She fell into the water with a splash, and then Catarina Stills, daughter of Hendrick Stills the Southern Explorer, last captain of the Seven Bells, was gone.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

The long-vacant site has become a magnet for so-called urban explorers, who prowl abandoned malls, hospitals, power plants, amusement parks, factories and any other disused structure they can breach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

It’s a tradition that dates back to 1886, and there have been over 200 such parades since then, celebrating great explorers, war heroes and champion athletes.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026

Specimens gathered by explorers generations ago continue to provide valuable scientific insights today, especially in remote regions where fieldwork remains difficult.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

Sardines, tuna and abalone have all at some point been abundant along the California Current, a 1,900-mile stretch of the Pacific that has been ripe for explorers and fishers for centuries.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

Those future explorers on Io will have to keep their wits about them.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan