avant-garde

• avantgarde

Borrowed from French avant-garde (“vanguard”). Doublet of vanguard.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /æˈvɑ̃t.ɡɑːd/, /æˈvɑ̃.ɡɑːd/, /ˌæ.vɑ̃ˈɡɑːd/, /ˈæ.vn̩t.ɡɑːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɑˌvɑntˈɡɑɹd/, /əˌvɑntˈɡɑɹd/, /ˌæ.vɑntˈɡɑɹd/, /ˌɑˌvæntˈɡɑɹd/, /əˌvæntˈɡɑɹd/, /ˌɑˌvɑ̃ˈɡɑɹd/, /ˌæˌvɑ̃ˈɡɑɹd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

avant-garde (plural avant-gardes)

1. (obsolete) The vanguard of an army or other force.

   Antonym: arrière-garde

2. Any group of people who invent or promote new techniques or concepts, especially in the arts.

   Antonym: arrière-garde

avant-garde (comparative more avant-garde, superlative most avant-garde)

1. Innovative, pioneering, especially when extremely or obviously so.

   It was a very avant-garde production.

   • 2014, James Dobson, "Modesty and Self-Esteem"

     I fear she will pay a heavy price for the avant-garde ideas she has been sold.

• mistakenly trendy
• (outside the mainstream): underground
• See also Thesaurus:innovation

• leading edge

From Old French avantgarde, equivalent to avant (“before, in front of”) +‎ garde (“guard”).

• IPA^(key): /a.vɑ̃.ɡaʁd/

• Audio (Vosges, France)

  (file)

avant-garde f (plural avant-gardes)

1. (military) vanguard [since mid-12th c.]

   Antonym: arrière-garde

   • 1879, Alfred Barbou, Les Trois Républiques françaises : Histoire populaire de la République en France [The Three French Republics: People's history of the Republic in France], A. Duquesne:

     Le 11 décembre, les avant-gardes ennemies étaient signalées aux environs de Château-Thierry.

     On December 11, the enemy vanguard was reported in the vicinity of Château-Thierry.

2. (figuratively) avant-garde, firing line [since mid-16th c.]

• “avant-garde”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

avant-garde f (plural avant-gardes)

1. (military) vanguard