pathfinder1
/ˈpɑːθfʌɪndə
/noun
1A person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way.Is she seen as a bit of a - well, as you said, a trailblazer, a pathfinder for women, not just in athletics, in that time?...
- They're the groundbreakers and the pathfinders.
- They can be described as visionaries, revolutionaries, radicals, liberals, nonconformists, outsiders, insurgents, prophets, pathfinders.
1.1An aircraft sent ahead to locate and mark the target area for bombing.But no one in FEMA had enough sense to ask about air drops, pathfinders, Special Tactics Teams or anything which could have sent immediate aid....
- It made its mark in the attack on Poland in September 1939 and its versatility was such that it was used as a bomber, reconnaissance plane and as a pathfinder by the Luftwaffe.
- It developed more specialised roles such as a torpedo-carrier, a glider tug and a pathfinder.
1.2 [usually as modifier] An experimental plan or forecast: a pathfinder prospectus...
- The row highlighted the haphazard application of the rules covering pathfinder prospectuses.
- The federal interdepartmental committee reviewing pathfinder projects specifically indicated its preference for citizen-facing projects.
- The plans have been drawn up by eight regional pathfinder partnerships across England.
Synonyms
pioneer, trailblazer, groundbreaker, experimenter, trendsetter, front runner, leader, leading light, guiding light, torch-bearer, pacemaker, originator, instigator, initiator, innovator, avant-gardist, developer, creator, discoverer, founder, founding father, architect
formal neoteric
Pathfinder2
/ˈpɑːθfʌɪndə/(in full Mars Pathfinder)
An unmanned American spacecraft which landed on Mars in 1997, deploying a small robotic rover (Sojourner) to explore the surface and examine the rocks.