pathbreaker
Americannoun
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a person who blazes a trail or path; pathfinder.
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a pioneer or innovator.
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.
Elon Musk is a pathbreaker, and Tesla has been the target of several securities class actions.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Elliott becomes the first female hip-hop artist in the rock hall, which called her “a true pathbreaker in a male-dominated genre.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2023
Like Snider’s “Forward,” this work was also dedicated to a female pathbreaker: the soprano Dorothy Maynor, who founded this school in the 1960s.
From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2022
Ilhan Omar: The first-term Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota is a pathbreaker on many levels.
From Washington Post • Jan. 3, 2020
Admired as a pathbreaker, Elizebeth is now regarded as a role model—a woman who excelled in a technical field through her courage, smarts, and grit.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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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.