as in progressive
being or employing the latest concepts, styles, or techniques
a very avant-garde artist whose works wouldn't even be considered art by many traditionalists
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of avant-garde
Jon Burlingame, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
The nude, floor-length frock hinted at old Hollywood, perhaps a nod to mom Janet Leigh, but with the avant-garde touch of exterior boning in the corset.
—Christopher Muther, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Mar. 2023
Valerie Mesa, People.com, 8 Dec. 2024
Paired with an archival 1994 John Galliano gown, her hairdo was just as avant-garde as the supermodels back then—and the most ground-breaking look of the night.
—India Espy-Jones, Essence, 6 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for avant-garde 
Adjective
Active in avant-garde music on the European music scene, Bertelmann frequently employs prepared piano and electronics.
—Jon Burlingame, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023
The nude, floor-length frock hinted at old Hollywood, perhaps a nod to mom Janet Leigh, but with the avant-garde touch of exterior boning in the corset.
—Christopher Muther, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Mar. 2023
Noun
This is the time to embrace avant-garde styles, mix unexpected textures and experiment with daring color palettes that might have once felt too risky.
—Valerie Mesa, People.com, 8 Dec. 2024
Paired with an archival 1994 John Galliano gown, her hairdo was just as avant-garde as the supermodels back then—and the most ground-breaking look of the night.
—India Espy-Jones, Essence, 6 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for avant-garde
Recent Examples of Synonyms for avant-garde
Adjective
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Believing in thriving together, PETRONAS adopts progressive collaboration models alongside its CCS endeavor, enabling new growth opportunities for players and exemplifying how pursuing sustainability can also maintain the vibrancy of existing businesses.PETRONAS Contributor, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024
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In February, the broadcast veteran shared she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, a rare nervous system syndrome, and dementia.DeMicia Inman, VIBE.com, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
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One of those vanguards is Rudy Fraser, a 30-year-old New York technologist with a background in enterprise IT and community organizing.Jason Parham, WIRED, 13 Dec. 2024
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But big insurance companies today are typically far removed from the technological vanguard.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 22 June 2017
Adjective
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But of course these applications will be better and smarter and likely replaced by more advanced offerings.Gene Marks, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
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De Paul then released Julian Alvarez down the left with Kounde too advanced and Pau Cubarsi struggling to keep up.Pol Ballús, The Athletic, 22 Dec. 2024
Noun
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During the call, my dad reminisced about his childhood on an Air Force base in New Mexico, where everyone would gather overnight in a vast underground bunker during fallout drills.Jonah Walters, Longreads, 24 Oct. 2024
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Even before the country’s founding in 1948, the Zionist underground movement assassinated British military officers and police, seeing them as obstacles to creating a Jewish state.Dan De Luce, NBC News, 20 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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This prevents Adams from showing the disarming quality that Helena Bonham Carter brought to the eccentric mother figure in the 2010 Toast, an unconventional comic biography of chef Nigel Slater’s maternal fixation.Armond White, National Review, 13 Dec. 2024
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In the intellectually savvy sign of Aquarius, the love planet thrives when embracing individuality, unconventional beauty and forward-thinking ideals.Valerie Mesa, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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It was seen as totally out of character for the 89-year-old British luxury marque, thanks to minimalist typography in its new logotype, and vibrant imagery featuring contemporary choreography and avant garde fashion.New Atlas, New Atlas, 3 Dec. 2024
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By the 1980s Black women frequenting Vietnamese nail shops played an active role in cultivating that avant garde culture and made space for two seemingly different cultures to bond through beauty and art.Essence, Essence, 20 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Those included the landmark 1991 case, McNeil v. NFL, which ushered in the league’s modern system of free agency.Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 15 Dec. 2024
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Seven years later, Field’s hired Arthur Fraser, the father of modern window trimming.Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 15 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Agatha All Along landed three nods, for excellence in contemporary television and sci-fi/fantasy television and costume illustration.Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2024
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Whitehead has said that Elwood and Turner represent the two parts of him, the idealist (Elwood) and the cynic (Turner), whose intertwined perspectives inform his own view of race as a Black man making sense of contemporary America.K. Austin Collins, The Atlantic, 13 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near avant-garde
Cite this Entry
“Avant-garde.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/avant-garde. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.
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