Introducing a valuable new path or method that others can follow.
Reach for it when praising first practical work that changes what later people can do
Her trailblazing research made the test affordable outside major hospitals.
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| everyday | |
| professional |
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| formal | |
| literary |
playful
ahead of its time
Fits when later adoption proves unusual foresight
Careful The phrase can excuse impractical work that had little contemporary value.
everyday
Fits when an advance clearly breaks an old limit
Careful Groundbreaking is inflated for a clever but modest improvement.
professional
Fits when a novel solution creates present value
Careful An incremental innovation need not alter the path for later work.
professional
Fits when first development of a field or practice is central
Careful Pioneering may mean first without proving that others gained a usable route.
formal
Fits when the change overturns an established system
Careful Revolutionary seriously overstates most original work.
literary
pathfinding
Fits when discovery through uncertainty is the desired image
Careful Pathfinding sounds metaphorical and obscure in plain business writing.
trailblazing work
The trailblazing work included instructions that smaller labs could reproduce.
trailblazing research
Trailblazing research still needs independent replication.
trailblazing leader
A trailblazing leader leaves successors more than a personal legend.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Updated
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