avant-garde 1 of 2

avant-garde

2 of 2

noun

as in vanguard
the innovators of new concepts, styles, and techniques especially in the arts to the theater world's avant-garde, the melodrama seemed like a very old-fashioned play whose time had come and gone

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of avant-garde
Adjective
Jacobs was a founding member of the New York Film-Makers’ Co-Operative and, in 1966, the inaugural director of the Millennium Film Workshop, two nonprofit organizations that continue to support avant-garde filmmakers decades after their establishment. News Desk, Artforum, 9 Oct. 2025 Her mother is an opera singer, her father is a conductor and composer responsible for commissioning new, avant-garde works in Iceland. Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2025
Noun
Dangling tie elements and a skirt slit lent a casual, avant-garde vibe to the look. Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2025 List does a marvelous job of placing Ray’s work in the context of both the avant-garde and its influence on later artists. Air Mail, 27 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for avant-garde
Recent Examples of Synonyms for avant-garde
Adjective
  • Its politics tend to be a battle between center-left and progressive factions, subsidized by the stratospheric wealth of policy-shaping tech and real-estate billionaires.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Political observers say Sheffield’s achievements are notable for a council member who was more progressive and radical in her ideas in a city with a strong-mayor form of government and law department that serves both the mayor and the council.
    Violet Ikonomova, Freep.com, 15 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The oysterman has been catapulted onto the national stage as part of a vanguard of progressive, young candidates who have gained widespread support by appealing to working class voters.
    Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The San Francisco 49ers, vanguards of the outside zone run game, cannot run the ball.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • According to the research team, the XICS is equipped with an advanced calibration system designed to provide accurate measurements through changes in plasma density and temperature.
    Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Other companies, from Amazon to Uber, are also investing in technologies that automate safety-critical tasks, whether through advanced driver assistance systems or fully autonomous vehicles.
    Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Unlike the neo-Leninist underground, moreover, dissidents had no desire to revive Bolshevik revolutionary traditions, with their ideological discipline, armed conspiracy, and noms de guerre.
    Benjamin Nathans September 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Burnham Yard also is near an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site for radium contamination, but the Terracon report did not find any indication that there is a substantial amount of radioactive material underground.
    Elliott Wenzler, Denver Post, 14 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The story behind this winning idea is a bit unconventional compared to other product rollouts.
    Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 13 Oct. 2025
  • That same headbanging energy has defined her steady, albeit unconventional, political rise.
    Hanako Montgomery, CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This plant was ambitious and pioneering; the team in South Carolina solved infections, yield loss and the operational complexity of a brand-new biomanufacturing process.
    Alexandra Harrell, Sourcing Journal, 17 Oct. 2025
  • But for now, enzymatic recycling plants remain pioneering.
    Srishti Gupta, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington are bringing their avant-comedy film show On Cinema at the Cinema to venues around North America next year.
    Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Jim Rinnert was the longtime art director for In These Times magazine and a theater enthusiast who co-wrote an award-winning multimedia theatrical work based on the writings of avant-grade theater and cinema artist Antonin Artaud.
    Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • But one scholar, Anthony Grafton, who about thirty years ago published Forgers and Critics, focused on how in the early modern period, there was this enormous flourishing not only of culture but also of liars.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
  • The program features hits from the ’70s, such as The Beatles, Billy Joel, Elvis and The Carpenters, with modern twist.
    Linda Mcintosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Avant-garde.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/avant-garde. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.

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