# avant-garde

Pronunciation: US say "ah-vahnt-GAHRD" /ˌɑˌvɑntˈɡɑɹd/; UK say "a-VAHNT-gahd" /æˈvɑ̃t.ɡɑːd/; AUS say "a-von-GAHD"

## Adjective

1. Innovative and pioneering, especially in a way that is extreme or obvious.
   - Simple: New and different, trying ideas before others do, especially in a way that is extreme or easy to notice.
   - _The company's avant-garde production of Hamlet had the cast performing in near darkness._
   - _Some of the architect's early designs were considered too avant-garde for the city council to approve._

## Noun

2. A group of innovators who create or champion new methods and ideas, especially in the arts.
   - Simple: A group of people who create or support new ideas and ways of working, especially in art.
   - _Critics who once mocked the avant-garde now compete to buy its early canvases._
   - _A small avant-garde of chefs began serving meals built entirely from foraged plants._

## Noun

3. The vanguard of an army or other force: the leading section that advances ahead of the main body. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The part of an army or other armed group that moves at the front, ahead of the rest.
   - _By dusk the avant-garde had crossed the ridge, a full day's march ahead of the baggage train._
   - _The fleet's avant-garde of six frigates sighted the enemy coast shortly after noon._

## Origin

An unadapted borrowing from French avant-garde, meaning "vanguard." It is a doublet of English vanguard and vaward.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/avant-garde (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).