pathfinder

[ path-fahyn-der, pahth‑ ]

noun

1. a person who finds or makes a path, way, route, etc., especially through a previously unexplored or untraveled wilderness.
2. an airplane, or a person dropped from a plane, sent into a target area to illuminate the area for succeeding aircraft.
3. a radar beacon beamed into a target area to provide guidance for missiles seeking the target.
4. (initial capital letter) an unmanned spacecraft that landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, to obtain climatic and geologic data.

pathfinder

/ ˈpɑːθˌfaɪndə /

noun

1. a person who makes or finds a way, esp through unexplored areas or fields of knowledge
2. an aircraft or parachutist who indicates a target area by dropping flares, etc
3. a radar device used for navigation or homing onto a target

Derived Forms

• ˈpathˌfinding, noun

Other Words From

• pathfinding noun adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pathfinder¹

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; path + finder

Example Sentences

Curiously, Donaldson’s former collaborator John Wise met a similar fate just four years later, when his balloon Pathfinder came down over Lake Michigan.

From Salon

Lockheed Martin/ABL Space Systems is also planning orbital launches as part of the official UK Government Pathfinder launch.

From BBC

Twice a week, Myhre picked up Kamara in his silver Nissan Pathfinder to drive him to practice in Manhattan Beach.

From Los Angeles Times

As director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena from 1991 to 2001, Dr. Stone oversaw the Mars Pathfinder mission and its wheeled Sojourner rover; the Galileo space probe’s orbital mission to Jupiter; the launch of the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn and its rings and moons, a joint project involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian space agency; and a new class of Earth science satellites.

From New York Times

On November 8, an enormous new airship called Pathfinder 1 made its first test flights in California.

From NewsForKids.net

Related Words

• counselor
• mentor
• model
• pilot
• teacher