Library / English Dictionary

PIONEER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

One of the first colonists or settlers in a new territory

Example:

they went west as pioneers with only the possessions they could carry with them

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("pioneer" is a kind of...):

colonist; settler (a person who settles in a new colony or moves into new country)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pioneer"):

bushman (a dweller in the Australian bush country)

backwoodsman; frontiersman; mountain man (a man who lives on the frontier)

frontierswoman (a woman who lives on the frontier)

Instance hyponyms:

Bowie; James Bowie; Jim Bowie (United States pioneer and hero of the Texas revolt against Mexico; he shared command of the garrison that resisted the Mexican attack on the Alamo where he died (1796-1836))

Chapman; John Chapman; Johnny Appleseed (United States pioneer who planted apple trees as he traveled (1774-1845))

Derivation:

pioneer (open up and explore a new area)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art

Synonyms:

groundbreaker; innovator; pioneer; trailblazer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("pioneer" is a kind of...):

conceiver; mastermind; originator (someone who creates new things)

Derivation:

pioneer (take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of)

pioneer (open up an area or prepare a way)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Open up and explore a new area

Example:

pioneer space

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "pioneer" is one way to...):

explore (travel to or penetrate into)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pioneer (one of the first colonists or settlers in a new territory)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of

Example:

This South African surgeon pioneered heart transplants

Synonyms:

initiate; pioneer

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "pioneer" is one way to...):

cause; do; make (give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pioneer"):

strike up (begin)

innovate; introduce (bring something new to an environment)

activate; actuate; set off; spark; spark off; touch off; trigger; trigger off; trip (put in motion or move to act)

constitute; establish; found; institute; plant (set up or lay the groundwork for)

arrange; stage (plan, organize, and carry out (an event))

mount (put up or launch)

attempt; set about; undertake (enter upon an activity or enterprise)

devise; get up; machinate; organise; organize; prepare (arrange by systematic planning and united effort)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pioneer (someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Open up an area or prepare a way

Example:

She pioneered a graduate program for women students

Synonyms:

open up; pioneer

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "pioneer" is one way to...):

innovate; introduce (bring something new to an environment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pioneer (someone who helps to open up a new line of research or technology or art)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A more resolute, indefatigable pioneer never wrought amidst rocks and dangers.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

You may look upon me simply as an irregular pioneer, who goes in front of the regular forces of the country.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The mission of the Fox Chase Cancer Center is to prevail over cancer by marshalling hearts and minds in bold scientific discovery, pioneering prevention, and compassionate care.

(Fox Chase Cancer Center, NCI Thesaurus)

Florence was discovered in 1981 by astronomer Schelte "Bobby" Bus at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory and named after Florence Nightingale, the nursing pioneer.

(Biggest Asteroid Ever Detected Flies Past Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This pioneering new study demonstrates that the causes of cold allodynia are exclusively neuronal in nature and that it is a direct response to the nerve injury, while tactile allodynia is the result of complex interactions between the immune system and the nervous system.

(Genetic study paves way for new neuropathic pain treatments, University of Granada)

So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Jacob was a pioneer in the study of German philology, and although Wilhelm’s work was hampered by poor health the brothers collaborated in the creation of a German dictionary, not completed until a century after their deaths.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Ever since the late nineteenth century when pioneering neuroscientists, Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi, drew the earliest maps of the nervous system, scientists have been developing dyes and staining methods to help distinguish the structures in the brain, including different types of cells and their state of health.

(Scientists teach computers how to analyze brain cells, National Institutes of Health)

Certainly it was not this which our pioneer had attempted to indicate.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You seem to be focused on a very new project, one that would help you to pioneer into an entirely new arena.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)