pathfinder
Americannoun
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a person who finds or makes a path, way, route, etc., especially through a previously unexplored or untraveled wilderness.
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an airplane, or a person dropped from a plane, sent into a target area to illuminate the area for succeeding aircraft.
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a radar beacon beamed into a target area to provide guidance for missiles seeking the target.
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(initial capital letter) an unmanned spacecraft that landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, to obtain climatic and geologic data.
noun
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a person who makes or finds a way, esp through unexplored areas or fields of knowledge
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an aircraft or parachutist who indicates a target area by dropping flares, etc
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a radar device used for navigation or homing onto a target
Other Word Forms
- pathfinding noun
Etymology
Origin of pathfinder
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.
"We set high standards, it can be a pathfinder, it can be a test-bed that we do together before it is expanded to the broader region," he said.
From Reuters • Oct. 14, 2023
“I do see this as a pathfinder for how we can help facilitate commercial missions beyond Earth,” Mr. Baker said.
From New York Times • Jun. 26, 2022
ESA has long planned its own gravitational-wave observatory, LISA, and has already flown a successful pathfinder.
From Scientific American • Feb. 24, 2022
Right now, the company is working toward a pathfinder mission that would send a test robot to the Earth-Moon Lagrange point as early as spring of 2024.
From The Verge • Feb. 3, 2022
“What a splendid pathfinder you are, my friend.”
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
