trailblaze
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to blaze a trail through (a forest, wilderness, or the like) for others to follow.
-
to be a pioneer in (a particular subject, technique, etc.).
verb (used without object)
Usage
What does trailblaze mean? To trailblaze is to literally make a trail where there wasn’t one, such as through a forest or an area of wilderness. In a figurative sense, it means to be the first (or one of the first) to do something, which allows others to follow in that “path” and build on that progress. The metaphorical meaning of trailblaze is much more common, and the noun trailblazer is more common than the verb. Example: Her book trailblazed a new kind of young adult fiction.
Etymology
Origin of trailblaze
Back formation from trailblazer
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:
To trailblaze and succeed in the harsh EV market, the company decided it needed a presence in California, as well as near the traditional heart of car building in and around Detroit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025
In the documentary, Mermaid Morgana Alba was somebody I wanted to focus on because she really has been at the forefront of trying to trailblaze and make things safer for the artists.
From Salon ● May 28, 2023
I got updates that said any teachers who want to try and do online classes can trailblaze how to figure that out.
From Slate ● May 2, 2020
As the journalist Patrick Kingsley observes in his new book … ‘It takes young, mobile risk-takers to trailblaze a new route.’
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2017
As the journalist Patrick Kingsley observes, in his new book, “The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First-Century Refugee Crisis,” “It takes young, mobile risk-takers to trailblaze a new route.”
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 19, 2017
“Anne trailblazed that path for so many women, and beautifully captured the essence of people and what it meant to be human,” said daughter Gwendolyn Derk, a physician who lives near Portland, Ore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
The Ellon-based company has trailblazed a crowdfunding model since it was launched in Fraserburgh in 2007 by Mr Watt and co-founder Martin Dickie.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2022
In retrospect, the pairing couldn’t have been more felicitous, because McNally’s plays about the gay experience — especially “Love! Valour! Compassion! — trailblazed for “The Inheritance.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2019
"Shonda certainly trailblazed a lot of this current move in so many different ways," says Larry Wilmore.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2015
That contrasts sharply with the US, which trailblazed the concept of crime mapping by allowing third-party developers to use crime data published by local police forces to map reports of incidents.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 2, 2011
What started off as a trailblazing music partnership between música mexicana band Fuerza Regida and L.A. label Rancho Humilde has now fizzled into a sticky online drama.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
A trailblazing engineer, she is the first woman to lead one of the world’s major oil companies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Smack in the middle of sensation and observation is Mary Harron’s trailblazing debut film, “I Shot Andy Warhol,” released 30 years ago this month, with a timely restoration rolling out theatrically this summer.
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2026
Reacting to the trailblazing astronauts vibing to their song, the band said on Instagram: "Omg... I love u guys."
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Thomas Jones was a Confederate Secret Service veteran who had spent his entire life trailblazing through the fields, thickets, and forests of rural Maryland and navigating its streams, marshes, and rivers.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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.
