(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
1.
Someone who is referred to as a ~ in a particular area of activity is one of the first people to be involved in it and develop it.
...one of the leading ~s of British photo journalism...
N-COUNT: oft N of/in n, N n
2.
Someone who ~s a new activity, invention, or process is one of the first people to do it.
...Professor Alec Jeffreys, who invented and ~ed DNA tests...
...the folk-tale writing style ~ed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
VERB: V n, V-ed
3.
Pioneers are people who leave their own country or the place where they were living, and go and live in a place that has not been lived in before.
...abandoned settlements of early European ~s.
N-COUNT