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vanguard. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
vanguard, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
Earlier forms included vandgard and (a)vantgard, derived from Old French avan(t)garde (“before guard”). Doublet of avant-garde and vaward. Etymologically unrelated to van.
Pronunciation
Noun
vanguard (plural vanguards)
- (military) The leading units at the front of an army or fleet.
- Synonyms: advance guard, (obsolete) avant-garde
- Antonym: rearguard
1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, , London: W Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 35:They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight.
- (by extension) The person(s) at the forefront of any group or movement.
- Synonym: avant-garde
1922, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS ”, in The New York Times:[O]ne minute this "Jihadi John" was struggling to get by, and get accepted, in drizzly England, unemployed with a mortgage to pay and a chip on his shoulder, and the next he stands in brilliant Levantine sunlight, where everything is clear and etched, at the vanguard of some Sunni Risorgimento intent on subjecting the world to its murderous brand of Wahhabi Islam.
Translations
leading units of an army
- Arabic: طَلِيعَة f (ṭalīʕa)
- Belarusian: аванга́рд m (avanhárd)
- Bulgarian: аванга́рд (bg) m (avangárd)
- Catalan: avantguarda (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 先鋒/先锋 (zh) (xiānfēng), 先頭部隊/先头部队 (xiāntóu bùduì), 尖兵 (zh) (jiānbīng), 前衛/前卫 (zh) (qiánwèi)
- Crimean Tatar: avangard
- Czech: předvoj m
- Dutch: voorhoede (nl)
- Finnish: etujoukot
- French: avant-garde (fr) f
- Galician: dianteira f, vangarda f
- Georgian: ავანგარდი (avangardi)
- German: Vorhut (de) f
- Greek: εμπροσθοφυλακή (el) f (emprosthofylakí)
- Irish: urgharda m
- Italian: avanguardia (it) f, prima linea f
- Japanese: 前衛 (ja) (ぜんえい, zen'ei)
- Korean: 전위 (ko) (jeonwi)
- Latvian: avangards m, priekšpulks m
- Macedonian: претхо́дница f (prethódnica), аванга́рда f (avangárda), пре́тстража f (prétstraža)
- Maori: pīpī
- Norwegian: fortropp m
- Persian: یزک (fa) (yazak), طلایه (fa) (talâye), پیشگام (fa) (pišgâm), پیشتاز (fa) (pištâz)
- Polish: awangarda (pl) f, straż przednia (pl)
- Portuguese: vanguarda (pt) f, anteguarda f
- Romanian: avangardă (ro) f, antegardă (ro) f (rare)
- Russian: аванга́рд (ru) m (avangárd)
- Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
- Serbo-Croatian: predstraža (sh) f
- Slovak: predvoj m
- Spanish: vanguardia (es) f
- Swedish: förtrupp (sv)
- Tocharian B: ānte
- Ukrainian: аванга́рд (uk) m (avanhárd)
- Yiddish: אַוואַנגאַרד m (avangard)
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forefront of any group or movement
- Arabic: طَلِيعَة f (ṭalīʕa)
- Bulgarian: аванга́рд (bg) m (avangárd)
- Catalan: avantguarda (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 先鋒/先锋 (zh) (xiānfēng), 先驅/先驱 (zh) (xiānqū), 前沿 (zh) (qiányán)
- Crimean Tatar: avangard
- Czech: předvoj m, avantgarda f
- Dutch: voorhoede (nl)
- Finnish: etujoukko, edelläkävijät (fi), suunnannäyttäjät (fi)
- French: avant-garde (fr) f
- German: Avantgarde (de) f, Spitze (de) f
- Greek: πρωτοπορία (el) f (protoporía), αβάν-γκαρντ (el) (aván-gkarnt)
- Korean: 선봉(先鋒) (ko) (seonbong)
- Latvian: avangards m, priekšpulks m
- Macedonian: аванга́рда f (avangárda)
- Maori: hāpai
- Norwegian: banebryter m, avantgarde m
- Persian: پیشگام (fa) (pišgâm), پیشتاز (fa) (pištâz)
- Portuguese: vanguarda (pt) f
- Romanian: avangardă (ro) f
- Russian: аванга́рд (ru) m (avangárd)
- Scottish Gaelic: toiseach m
- Slovak: predvoj m, avantgarda f
- Spanish: vanguardia (es) f
- Swedish: tät (sv)
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