as in settler
a person who settles in a new region
the hardships that the pioneers endured while taming the wilderness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in first
coming before all others in time or order
the nation's pioneer institution for the education of African-Americans
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to establish
to be responsible for the creation and early operation or use of
he single-handedly pioneered the university's institute for medical research
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pioneer
Jeff Mayhugh, Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2026
Hedges’ departure comes a month after Deadline revealed reality TV pioneer Craig Piligian was exiting Lionsgate Alternative Media and Piligian Media Group.
—Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 5 Jan. 2026
Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 12 Dec. 2024
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
The designs were pioneered by Tesla but have become commonplace in modern cars.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for pioneer
Noun
As the industry grew, pioneers like Henry Ford increased production through new machinery and business management practices, such as the assembly line and vertical integration.
—Adjective
In tandem with the modernist movement of the 20th century was the Danish concept of functionalism; a design philosophy of form follows function, which was introduced by pioneer Danish architects like Poul Henningsen and Vilhelm Lauritzen.
—Verb
In the 1980s and 1990s, George Borjas pioneered the field of immigration economics.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for pioneer
Noun
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Changing climate drove Norse settlers out of Greenland 700 years ago.—
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Violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has continued to escalate for months as mobs of settler extremists attempt to force the civilians out of their homes, clashing with Israel Defense Forces personnel sent to quell the crowds at times.—
Adjective
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His first action of the night came after about three minutes into the game, not long after going over to the exercise bike parked just outside the tunnel leading to their locker room, jumping on it while being advised by a member of the Hornets’ performance staff.—
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Pratt launched his mayoral run on the first anniversary of the Los Angeles fires, which destroyed his and his wife Heidi Montag’s home.—
Verb
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Auditing two departments Calvo plans to establish a task force to audit Hialeah’s 911 operations, responding tor concerns from dispatchers about understaffing and slow response times.—
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Since the 1977 report, scores of other scientific studies involving thousands have clearly established a strong association between consumption of meat and dairy products and elevated incidences of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and certain types of cancer.—
Noun
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In addition, the creation of the fetishes, with their bits of bone, dirt, plants, and other objects, also unnerved enslavers and colonists.—
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Virginia is recognized as the birthplace of American wine, since colonists attempted the craft in the early 17th century.—
Adjective
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During their initial investigation, police found that two men approached the home's front door.—
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Noting that a federal grant funded the initial deployment of ShotSpotter, Lucas said, too often there are technologies that end up being funded by local taxpayers in perpetuity.—
Verb
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However, former Federal Air Marshal Peter Johnson — who founded Archway Defense, which has trained state, local and federal law enforcement in firearms for the past decade — told WCCO the street is not the place to challenge a federal agent's orders.—
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The OpenSnow reporting and forecasting service is predicting four to eight additional inches at many resorts between Wednesday evening and Friday morning, although founding meteorologist Joel Gratz acknowledged that the weather models for this system have been a bit confounding.—
Adjective
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My colleague Jeff, one of the foremost space experts in the world, just published a feature on the efforts to build data centers in space.—
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Many of the city’s foremost bakers — including Sherry Yard, Nancy Silverton, Sumi Chang — brought cookies to share.—
Verb
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Preparations for the pilot production in the coming year have already been initiated.—
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Crime in Anne Arundel County Saturday's shooting initiated Anne Arundel County's first homicide investigation of 2026.—
Cite this Entry
“Pioneer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pioneer. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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