pathfinder
Americannoun
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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
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.
The Make Great Plays staff created five awards, one of each going to students in every grade: Inclusion Hero, Unity Champion, Global Ambassador, Hope Maker and Pathfinder.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026
Pathfinder Tech plans to lease a soon-vacant elementary school to add 150 seats and reduce its wait list.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025
Food and Drug Administration when Grail submits the Pathfinder 2 data next year in its application for marketing approval.
From Barron's • Oct. 22, 2025
Sir Andrew McFarlane, the most senior family court judge in England and Wales. discussed the Pathfinder idea in a blog in July 2024.
From BBC • Oct. 9, 2025
"We immediately directed Pathfinder to take a panoramic image. Hopefully, Watney has some kind of message for us. Questions?"
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
