explorer

noun

ex·​plor·​er ik-ˈsplȯr-ər 

1

: one that explores

especially : a person who travels in search of geographical or scientific information

2

capitalized : a member of a coed scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America for young people ages 14 to 20 focusing on career awareness

Examples of explorer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lapu-Lapu Day is a Filipino holiday named for an indigenous chief who won a 1521 battle with Spanish forces led by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the present-day Philippines. —Becky Sullivan, NPR, 27 Apr. 2025

The robotic explorers keep spotting new and noteworthy rocks. —Amanda Kooser, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025

Yet three decades later, Schröder, his wife, Jeannine, and their four sons are at the beginning of a seven-year voyage aboard their 146-foot explorer Maverick. —Katia Damborsky, Robb Report, 20 Apr. 2025

The 31 rooms and suites are also named after famed French writers and philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment, like Voltaire and Denis Diderot, and explorers, like Navy officer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse. —Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 16 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1577, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for explorer

• restorer
• borer
• corer
• horror
• maurer
• scorer
• storer

Kids Definition

explorer

noun

ex·​plor·​er ik-ˈsplōr-ər 

-ˈsplȯr-

1

: one that explores

a vehicle called the lunar explorer

especially : a person who travels in search of new geographical or scientific information

2

capitalized : a member of the scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America for young people 14 to 20 years old

Medical Definition

explorer

noun

ex·​plor·​er ik-ˈsplōr-ər, -ˈsplȯr- 

: an instrument for exploring cavities especially in teeth : probe sense 1