Avant-garde: meaning, example and synonyms

Avant-garden. The artists or thinkers who pioneer new, experimental ideas ahead of their time.

Example

Dismissed by critics at first, the small circle of painters came to be seen as the avant-garde of a movement that later filled major museums.

Part of speech: noun
Synonyms: vanguard, pioneers, innovators, trailblazers
Antonyms: traditionalists, old guard, mainstream
Memory tip: French for 'advance guard': the troops who march out in front.

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Check yourself: Avant-garde in context

Pick the word that best completes each text.

Question 1

When the young composers first abandoned conventional harmony, audiences jeered; yet within a generation, the techniques of that ______ had become standard in film scores.

Question 2

Writers who saw themselves as part of the literary ______ rejected tidy plots and linear time, convinced that readers would eventually catch up with their experiments.

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