pioneered

verb

past tense of pioneer
as in founded
to be responsible for the creation and early operation or use of he single-handedly pioneered the university's institute for medical research

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pioneered The modern-day interpretation of the holiday was pioneered by the Eastside nonprofit Self Help Graphics & Art, which hosted its first Día de los Muertos public celebration in 1972. — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026 Robin Hardy’s 1973 film is a cult classic that pioneered and defined folk horror and inspired later movies in the subgenre, including Ari Aster’s Midsommar. — Air Mail, 24 Oct. 2026 The facility depends on the same KBS-3 isolation technology pioneered alongside Finland. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026 Intismeran uses messenger RNA technology, the same platform pioneered in the development of Covid vaccines that’s hailed for how quickly it can be rolled out. — David Cox, NBC news, 23 Oct. 2026 Apple's first foldable comes seven years after Samsung pioneered the category, but the American tech giant is expected to take a sizable chunk of the market. — Mackenzie Sigalos, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026 The perfumer at the start of his career created with L’Artisan Parfumeur’s founder Jean Laporte the Mûre et Musc scent that pioneered fruity fragrances. — Jennifer Weil, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026 The result relied in part on techniques pioneered by Radziwiłł and Dunn. — Quanta Magazine, 19 Oct. 2026 Psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman pioneered the field of positive psychology, the scientific study of human flourishing. — Joan M. Cook, Time, 17 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pioneered
  1. founded
  2. established
  3. introduced
  4. initiated
  5. launched
  6. created
  7. instituted
Verb
  • The company was founded by Kush Agarwal and Arvin Singh, who have backgrounds in aerospace engineering and aircraft development at the University of California, Los Angeles.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Jacob Bickelhaupt co-founded the now-shuttered Konro restaurant in West Palm Beach, where his ex-wife was a partner.
    — Zoey Thomas, Sun Sentinel, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of founded
Verb
  • Talks will take place under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, or UNTOC, a global treaty established in 2003 to combat international criminal networks, money laundering, and corruption.
    — Spoorthy Raman, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2026
  • His attorneys dispute that his role as administrator established responsibility for threats allegedly made by others.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of established
Verb
  • The government also promised 15,000 additional places in higher education, introduced across the next two years, and increases in student grants linked to inflation from the start of the next academic year.
    — Thomas Adamson, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Government bond investors want cuts to public spending, less borrowing and business-friendly measures aimed at boosting growth, such as reversing some of the payroll tax increases introduced under Reeves.
    — Ian King, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of introduced
Verb
  • Investigators must still determine how much cryptocurrency remains accessible to whoever initiated the transfers.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 29 Oct. 2026
  • The Colts initiated a blockbuster to kick off the trade deadline period, sending Nelson, an All-Pro guard, to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick and 2028 fifth-round pick on Tuesday.
    — Scott Thompson OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of initiated
Verb
  • Russia launched more than 20 attacks on Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region overnight into Sunday, using drones and an aerial bomb, according to local authorities.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
  • According to Ukrainian authorities, over 153 Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were launched at Ukraine from Russia, mainly targeting large department stores and warehouses.
    — Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of launched
Verb
  • In November 2021, crew members took shelter inside their spacecraft after a Russian anti-satellite weapons test created a dangerous cloud of debris.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
  • The series, created by Marc Crehuet with Alejandra Guimerà, was co-penned by Crehuet with Carmen Marfá, Natalia Boadas and Serielizados co-founder Víctor Sala.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of created
Verb
  • Gascón instituted a number of unilateral policies on his first day in office — barring prosecutors from trying juveniles as adults, seeking the death penalty or charging certain misdemeanors — that left him at war with his own staff.
    — James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • French authorities instituted overnight curfews in several cities Monday in a bid to control violent cost-of-living protests that have fueled the country’s far right.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of instituted

Browse Nearby Words

pioneer
pioneered
pioneering
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pioneered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pioneered. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of reticent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All