PIONEERS Synonyms: 72 Similar and Opposite Words

pioneers 1 of 2

noun

plural of pioneer

as in settlers

a person who settles in a new region the hardships that the pioneers endured while taming the wilderness

Synonyms & Similar Words

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pioneers

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of pioneer

as in founds

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of pioneers

Noun

White settlers and frontier pioneers built vast, fenceless cattle stations, battling harsh environments and disease, embracing a hard-living culture that exists to this day. — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 5 July 2026 The group helped define hip-hop’s golden age, became the first rap act inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and remains one of the genre’s most influential pioneers. — Ernie Suggs, AJC.com, 3 July 2026 Today, visitors can follow the footsteps of these postal pioneers on an auto road route. — Josh Laskin, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2026 None of this is a condemnation of the pioneers in this field. — Tetiana Aleksandrova, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 The pioneers of barbecue’s third wave lack the same resources as their predecessors, says Garate. — Charlie Kolodziej, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 July 2026 But it was then followed up by a Spanish hymn, sung by musicians, dressed in 18th-century Spanish Colonial attire, including the garb of soldado, vaquero, pioneers, military, and indigenous peoples. — Brian Hackney, CBS News, 30 June 2026 German physicist Max Planck was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, earning the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of quanta. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 28 June 2026 The technology was invaluable to farmers and pioneers of the American West. — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2026

Verb

This year’s Veteran Era Category, which honors artists that came to musical prominence before 1980, was awarded to bluegrass and folk music pioneers The Stanley Brothers, Ralph and Carter Stanley. — Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 20 Mar. 2026 Geese owes an attitudinal debt to the punk pioneers the Stooges. — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2025 HackQuest pioneers this approach by creating comprehensive developer profiles on the blockchain. — Douglas B. Laney, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025 DiLoCoX pioneers a number of novel techniques, including pipeline parallelism, adaptive gradient compression, one-step-delay communication overlaps and local training, to create a decentralized AI training environment that scales to unprecedented heights. — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 22 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pioneers

Noun

Some became stockmen, learning to ride settlers’ horses and using their deep knowledge of the land to muster cattle on horseback across vast landscapes.

— Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 5 July 2026
The history in Kaskaskia is as rich as the soil that attracted settlers in the first place and made it, for a time, Illinois’ most important place.

— Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2026

Definition of settlers

Noun

Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own.

— Steven Sloan, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026
For example, Indigenous people shared their knowledge of making tea from local plants and herbs with colonists.

— Teresa Mull, FOXNews.com, 5 July 2026

Definition of colonists

Verb

After the freeze of nearly $800 million in federal research funds, the deal’s resolution both restores essential support for academic research and institutes new requirements intended to bolster anti-discrimination efforts—especially against anti-Semitism.

— Associate News Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
In areas where our UDC system has been deployed, the grid operator instead institutes a brownout, cutting power by 90 percent.

— IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 31 Jan. 2017

Definition of institutes

Verb

Medicare, the federal insurance program, establishes prices for medical services.

— Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 5 July 2026
The graphic above shows that there is year-to-year variability due to things like El Niño and La Niña, but the overall trend clearly establishes a warming trend.

— Marshall Shepherd, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026

Definition of establishes

Verb

Needham initiates Carlsmed as buy Needham says the medtech company is best positioned.

— Michael Bloom, CNBC, 1 July 2026
Traffic is expected to be impacted in Midtown Manhattan as the city initiates shuttle bus corridors and closes streets around Penn Station for fans going to MetLife Stadium, which FIFA calls New York New Jersey Stadium.

— Mark Prussin, CBS News, 30 June 2026

Definition of initiates

Verb

Within its first 10 minutes, the show introduces the Ingallses to a helpful Black doctor (based on a real person who also appears in the book) and a Native American family much like themselves.

— Judy Berman, Time, 9 July 2026
The approach also introduces a computer architecture inspired by today’s digital computers that separates processing and memory.

— Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 9 July 2026

Definition of introduces

Verb

To be fair to Roh, when Apple launches its first foldable this fall as it’s expected to do, Samsung will be on its eighth generation of the form factor.

— David Phelan, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
The celebration includes artist doll collaborations, new product launches, original entertainment, live experiences, fan-first moments and evolved doll sculpts and stylings.

— Kimberly Nordyke, HollywoodReporter, 7 July 2026

Definition of launches

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“Pioneers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pioneers. Accessed 10 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of pioneers

noun

verb

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