Vanguard

//ˈvænˌɡɑɹd// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The leading units at the front of an army or fleet.

    "They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight."

  2. 2
    the position of greatest importance or advancement; the leading position in any movement or field wordnet
  3. 3
    The person(s) at the forefront of any group or movement. broadly

    "By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect."

  4. 4
    the leading units moving at the head of an army wordnet
  5. 5
    any creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
avant-gardeadvance guardadvance guardairheadancestorannouncer

Example

More examples

"The Communist Party is the vanguard of the working class."

Etymology

Earlier forms included vandgard and (a)vantgard with or without aphetism, derived from Old French avan(t)garde (“before guard”). Doublet of avant-garde and vaward.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.