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pathbreaking

American  
[path-bray-king, pahth-] / ˈpæθˌbreɪ kɪŋ, ˈpɑθ- /

adjective

  1. pertaining to blazing a trail or path.

  2. 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.

See Examples For:

A pathbreaking European banking merger is meanwhile gathering steam.

From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026

I spoke to three additional researchers who lauded the Johns Hopkins team for its pathbreaking work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

Sir Jony worked for Apple for more than 30 years, helping to revive the company with pathbreaking products including the iPhone and iPod.

From BBC ● May 21, 2025

Baldwin’s writing about race and American society was always entwined with love stories, from his pathbreaking 1956 LGBTQ+ novel “Giovanni’s Room” to his late classic, 1974’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025

In a volley of pathbreaking papers published between 1986 and 1990, Nüsslein-Volhard and her colleagues definitively identified several of the factors that provide the signal for “headness” and “tailness” in the embryo.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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