pathbreaking
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to blazing a trail or path.
-
pioneering; innovative.
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.
In a message to Gap employees, Chief Executive Richard Dickson called Fisher “a pathbreaking entrepreneur at a time when that was highly unusual for women.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
Founded in 1955, PIA was a symbol of national pride and rapid growth for years, with a pathbreaking international network and even flight attendant uniforms created by French designer Pierre Cardin in the 1960s.
From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025
The audience at Irish Rep on the Sunday matinee I attended may have been Beckett veterans, but it’s vital that a new generation of artists stays in contact with the vision of this pathbreaking playwright.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2025
For a while I would patiently make this point, noting the number of journalists and investigative reporters and also TV and radio pundits who have published pathbreaking work on this issue.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2024
Einstein’s earlier pathbreaking work on the photoelectric effect suggested strongly that light was composed of a stream of “light quanta,” or particles.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
