Noun

(en noun)

One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow.

A person or other entity who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-10

, author=Audrey Garric , title=Urban canopies let nature bloom , volume=188, issue=22, page=30 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.}}

Some people will consider their national heroes to be pioneers of civilization.

Certain politicians can be considered as pioneers of reform.

(obsolete, military)   A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances; a sapper.

A member of any of several European organizations advocating abstinence from alcohol.

(Communism)   A child of 10–16 years in the former Soviet Union, in the second of the three stages in becoming a member of the Communist Party.

Noun

(en-noun)

(eulogistic) Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}

Extraordinary mental capacity.

Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.

(Roman mythology) The guardian spirit of a place or person.

A way of thinking, optimizing one's capacity for learning and understanding.