pathbreaking
Americanadjective
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pertaining to blazing a trail or path.
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pioneering; innovative.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Judy Pace, a pathbreaking model and star of “blaxploitation” films who appeared in television shows through the 1960s and ’70s and the hit made-for-TV movie “Brian’s Song,” died last week at age 83.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2026
I spoke to three additional researchers who lauded the Johns Hopkins team for its pathbreaking work.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
Founded in 1955, PIA was a symbol of national pride and rapid growth for years, with a pathbreaking international network and even flight attendant uniforms created by French designer Pierre Cardin in the 1960s.
From Barron's • Dec. 23, 2025
For a while I would patiently make this point, noting the number of journalists and investigative reporters and also TV and radio pundits who have published pathbreaking work on this issue.
From Slate • Mar. 15, 2024
In a volley of pathbreaking papers published between 1986 and 1990, Nüsslein-Volhard and her colleagues definitively identified several of the factors that provide the signal for “headness” and “tailness” in the embryo.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
