trailblaze
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to blaze a trail through (a forest, wilderness, or the like) for others to follow.
-
to be a pioneer in (a particular subject, technique, etc.).
verb (used without object)
Usage
What does trailblaze mean? To trailblaze is to literally make a trail where there wasn’t one, such as through a forest or an area of wilderness. In a figurative sense, it means to be the first (or one of the first) to do something, which allows others to follow in that “path” and build on that progress.The metaphorical meaning of trailblaze is much more common, and the noun trailblazer is more common than the verb.Example: Her book trailblazed a new kind of young adult fiction.
Etymology
Origin of trailblaze
Back formation from trailblazer
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.
To trailblaze and succeed in the harsh EV market, the company decided it needed a presence in California, as well as near the traditional heart of car building in and around Detroit.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2025
I got updates that said any teachers who want to try and do online classes can trailblaze how to figure that out.
From Slate • May 2, 2020
I have to trailblaze and do this on my own.
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2018
As the journalist Patrick Kingsley observes in his new book … ‘It takes young, mobile risk-takers to trailblaze a new route.’
From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2017
As the journalist Patrick Kingsley observes, in his new book, “The New Odyssey: The Story of the Twenty-First-Century Refugee Crisis,” “It takes young, mobile risk-takers to trailblaze a new route.”
From The New Yorker • Feb. 19, 2017
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.
