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• pioneer
  pioneer

  noun

  a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.
• Pioneer
  Pioneer

  noun

  a total abstainer from alcoholic drink, esp a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, a society devoted to abstention

pioneer

American  

[pahy-uh-neer] / ˌpaɪ əˈnɪər /

noun

• pioneers
  plural

1. a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others.

2. a person, group, or thing that is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or development.

   a woman who was a pioneer in cancer research;

   vehicles that were pioneers of automotive engineering.

   Synonyms:

   innovator, groundbreaker, trailblazer, leader

3. one of a group of foot soldiers detailed to make roads, dig intrenchments, etc., in advance of the main body.

4. Ecology. an organism that successfully establishes itself in a barren area, thus starting an ecological cycle of life.

5. Aerospace. Pioneer, one of a series of U.S. space probes that explored the solar system and transmitted scientific information to earth.

6. Pioneer, (formerly) a member of a Communist organization in the Soviet Union for children ranging in age from 10 to 16.

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verb (used without object)

• pioneers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pioneered,
  past participle,  past
• pioneering
  present participle

1. to act as a pioneer.

verb (used with object)

• pioneers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pioneered,
  past participle,  past
• pioneering
  present participle

1. to be the first to open or prepare (a way, settlement, etc.).

2. to take part in the beginnings of; initiate.

   to pioneer an aid program.

3. to lead the way for (a group); trailblaze.

adjective

1. being the earliest, original, first of a particular kind, etc..

   a pioneer method of adult education.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of pioneers.

   pioneer justice.

3. being a pioneer.

   a pioneer fur trader.

pioneer ¹ British  

/ ˌpaɪəˈnɪə /

noun

1. 1. a colonist, explorer, or settler of a new land, region, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a pioneer wagon

2. an innovator or developer of something new

3. military a member of an infantry group that digs entrenchments, makes roads, etc

4. ecology the first species of plant or animal to colonize an area of bare ground

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verb

1. to be a pioneer (in or of)

2. (tr) to initiate, prepare, or open up

   to pioneer a medical programme

Pioneer ² British  

/ ˌpaɪəˈnɪə /

noun

1. a total abstainer from alcoholic drink, esp a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, a society devoted to abstention

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Pioneer ³ British  

/ ˌpaɪəˈnɪə /

noun

1. any of a series of US spacecraft that studied the solar system, esp Pioneer 10, which made the first flyby of Jupiter (1973), and Pioneer 11, which made the first flyby of Saturn (1979)

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pioneers
  plural

Participles

• pioneering
  present
• pioneered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pioneer
  simple
• pioneers
  simple
• have pioneered
  perfect
• has pioneered
  perfect
• am pioneering
  progressive
• are pioneering
  progressive
• is pioneering
  progressive
• have been pioneering
  perfect progressive
• has been pioneering
  perfect progressive

Past

• pioneered
  simple
• had pioneered
  perfect
• was pioneering
  progressive
• were pioneering
  progressive
• had been pioneering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pioneer
  simple
• will have pioneered
  perfect
• will be pioneering
  progressive
• will have been pioneering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pioneer

First recorded in 1515–25; from Middle French pionier, Old French peonier “foot soldier”; see origin at peon ¹, -eer

Explanation

A pioneer is one of the first settlers in a new place. If you desperately want to experience life in space, maybe you will be one of the pioneers who live in the first moon settlement. Pioneer comes from the old French for foot soldier or laborer, and particularly for groups of soldiers that would go out ahead of the rest of the troops to prepare the way. The European settlers who came to America in the 16th century are known as pioneers, as are the later groups who traveled West in the 18th and 19th centuries. We also use pioneer for anyone who takes initiative in a field, such as science or education.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pioneer Pioneer pioneers pioneered pioneering

A quick search through social media tells you that the 85-year-old is "a pioneer", "brilliant" and the "grand dame of autism research".

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

BioNTech, a former pioneer of mRNA cancer vaccines, was part of a broad rally Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Helmed by Barbara Burrell, Sky’s Gourmet Tacos helped pioneer a soulful approach to Mexican food that has since spread to Black-owned restaurants across Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

“The DSM is always catching up to the times,” said Carrie Goldberg, a plaintiff’s lawyer who helped pioneer the current style of social media litigation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

In pioneer days there was said to be a boiling spring around here.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

The Minoan Pioneer is not the only vessel to have been damaged during attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

In Massachusetts, the right-leaning Pioneer Institute has recently issued a brief calling for the adoption of policies to encourage the construction of smaller and less expensive “starter” homes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

In late 2023, after profits surged the prior year, Exxon snapped up Pioneer Natural Resources, a big West Texas oil producer, for $60 billion in stock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

The Pioneer League, for instance, has teams in the California towns of Modesto and Marysville, and in Idaho Falls and Missoula, Mont.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Radar pictures of Venus have been obtained, some from ground-based radar telescopes, some from the Pioneer Venus vehicle in orbit around the planet.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Chinese artificial-intelligence startups are rapidly closing the capability gap with U.S. pioneers like OpenAI and Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Known as 'vacuum birefringence', the phenomenon was predicted nearly 90 years ago by Werner Heisenberg, one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

Delta and United have been among the pioneers of segmentation in economy, and they’ve also focused on attracting richer flyers.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

Since then, El Malilla has expanded the scope of reggaeton Mexa following collaborations with Puerto Rican pioneers such as Jowell y Randy and Colombian superstar J Balvin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

His own father had been one of Seattle’s most prominent pioneers, establishing a large homestead in the city’s Ravenna Park area, just north of the university.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

The feature-length archival documentaries Mr. Doherty describes in detail in his book are “not high-profile titles”—it would take years for the techniques they pioneered to be perfected.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

While Europe and the U.S. first pioneered autonomous vehicles, China took a lead in mass-producing cheap aerial drones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

For the nonprofit, which pioneered the concept years ago, understanding the community need is vital and programming varies widely across its 19 school district partners.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

But the suffragist Swede who pioneered netball in England was anything but quiet.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

He had reduced private ownership of land, nationalized certain sectors of the economy, pioneered rapid industrialization, democratized education, and built a modem army.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

In response, Arcadia officials this month began what they say is a pioneering effort to determine how to protect local municipalities from influence by foreign governments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

When OpenAI released its pioneering GPT-3 model in 2020, Z.AI aimed to produce something as good.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The pioneering experiment was carried out using OtaNano, Finland's national research infrastructure for nano, micro and quantum technology.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

In September 2024, Novo scientist Lotte Bjerre Knudsen won a prestigious award — one that scientists often win before receiving a Nobel Prize — for her pioneering work on GLP-1s.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

Made up of archaeologists and divers from France, England, and the United States, this multinational group included Frederic Dumas, on loan from Jacques Cousteau’s team of divers, and the pioneering archaeologist Honor Frost.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler