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Glite Dictionary
💡 To innovate 🌲 To make a path
to trailblaze

to trailblaze

3 6.8
Do something new that opens the way for others
  • verb
  • /ˈtreɪlˌbleɪz/
translation icon : marcar el camino
  • As a director, she hopes to trailblaze innovative storytelling techniques in the film industry.
  • a trailblazing career
  • a trailblazing Air Force pilot
  • trailblazing efforts

I'm trying to trailblaze a path for women.

Examples

  • Time to turn on my trailblazing skills.

    Walking with Dinosaurs (2013)

  • I'm trying to trailblaze a path for women.

    Good Mythical Morning

  • Everybody tried to mimic the format that Lost did, and Lost kind of just sort of trailblazed it.

    Getting LOST (2024)

  • Despite the couple's trailblazing efforts, detractors began lining up soon after the monograph was published.

    Academic text (2003)

  • First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, Irene Becker has a track record of trailblazing accomplishments in business and in the community at large.

    Blog text (15)

  • Maria Caffrey is known for her efforts to trailblaze new strategies in climate research.

  • The young inventor aims to trailblaze advancements in renewable energy technology.

Synonyms

to pioneer
vsto trailblaze
66 5.1

To be among the first to try a new idea or method

focuses on creating a new path others can follow rather than only developing methods
to innovate
vsto trailblaze
39 5.5

Bring in new ideas or ways of doing things

involves being the first to do something and open the way for others
to blaze a trail
vsto trailblaze
  • Informal
4 5.3

To do something new first so other people can follow

is the same meaning but written as a single word rather than a phrase

Antonyms

to follow
∞ 1.0

To come after something in time or order

How Pioneering

to trailblaze
3 6.8
to innovate
39 5.5
to start
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

trailblaze infinitive
trailblazed past
trailblazed past participle
trailblazing present participle
trailblazes third person singular

Morphology

trailblaze = trail + blaze (semi-transparent) = trail + blaze

The figurative sense 'be the first to do something' is derived metaphorically from the literal sense of marking a trail and may not be immediately deducible by all learners.

Etymology

Trailblaze comes from the simple words trail ('path') and blaze ('a bright mark on a tree'). Picture someone making the first marks on a new path so others can follow, and you see why to trailblaze means to be the first to do something new.