pathfinder
Americannoun
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pathfinders
plural
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a person who finds or makes a path, way, route, etc., especially through a previously unexplored or untraveled wilderness.
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an airplane, or a person dropped from a plane, sent into a target area to illuminate the area for succeeding aircraft.
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a radar beacon beamed into a target area to provide guidance for missiles seeking the target.
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(initial capital letter) an unmanned spacecraft that landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, to obtain climatic and geologic data.
noun
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a person who makes or finds a way, esp through unexplored areas or fields of knowledge
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an aircraft or parachutist who indicates a target area by dropping flares, etc
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a radar device used for navigation or homing onto a target
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pathfinder
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:
The first launch will send Blue Origin's lander pathfinder into orbit, where it can remain for several weeks while waiting for the crew.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
Officials hope to pass the legislation to make police mergers more straightforward in this parliament and to get through at least one "pathfinder" merger before the next election.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
"The fact that it can is a major breakthrough because this is now a pathfinder project for similar projects in Europe."
From Reuters ● Aug. 29, 2022
“I do see this as a pathfinder for how we can help facilitate commercial missions beyond Earth,” Mr. Baker said.
From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2022
Peter went on ahead, our pathfinder as usual, while I led Marlene, with Karli riding up on her, all of us knowing we owed our lives to that extraordinary and wonderful lady.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Mr. Hamilton made a few practice jumps before commanding the flight that delivered his fellow pathfinders to the battlefield.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2019
This was a night for powerful women and pathfinders like Burnett and Close.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2019
Bit by bit, McClellan, Tarter and other historians and lawmakers are highlighting the names and deeds of those early African American pathfinders.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 26, 2018
Many refugees are using apps as pathfinders, devices to show them the best—or least dangerous— way west.
From Time ● Oct. 8, 2015
What had the pathfinders of New France accomplished?
From Canada: the Empire of the North Being the Romantic Story of the New Dominion's Growth from Colony to Kingdom by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut
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.
