Dictionary

vanguard en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈvɛnˌɡɐːd/ (New-Zealand)
• (Texas) audio
• /ˈvanˌɡɑːd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈvænˌɡɑɹd/ (Canada, General-American)
• /ˈveːnˌɡɐːd/ (Australia)
• [ˈvɛənˌɡɑɹd] (Canada, General-American) /æ/ raising
• audio North Carolina

Etymology

From Middle English vandgard, vaunte garde, vaunt garde, wantgard, from advaunte-garde, avauntgard with aphesis, from Old French avangarde, avant-garde, avantgarde, from avant (“before; in front”) + garde (“guard”). Doublet of avant-garde and vaward.

Meanings

1. The leading units at the front of an army or fleet.
   • They ſay, that the King diuided his Armie into three Battailes; whereof the Vant-guard onely well ſtrengthened with wings, came to fight. 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 35:
2. (broadly) The person or people at the forefront of a group or movement.
   • The outsiders are looking more like insiders, the vanguard of a cultural and political shift that could be far more profound than in his first presidency. 2025 January 20, Simon Montlake, “‘We’re the majority now’: MAGA returns to Washington, with a whole new vibe”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2025:
   • 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. 1921, Ben Travers, “The Nest”, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC, part I (“Come He Will”), page 35:
   • [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. 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The Horror! The Horror! The Trauma of ISIS”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Nov 2014:

Forms

Antonyms

arrière-garde · rearguard

Deriveds

vanguardism · van · vanguardist

Relateds

advance guard · arrière-garde · avant · avaunt · vaward · rearguard · guard · retrogarde · advance · avant-garde

Synonyms

avant-garde · avant · avant-garde · van · remnant · vaward · advance guard

Translations (95)

ar طَلِيعَة (forefront of any group or movement) · fa یزک (leading units of an army) · ja 前衛 (leading units of an army) · lv priekšpulks (leading units of an army) · sv tät (forefront of any group or movement) · fr avant-garde (forefront of any group or movement) · no fortropp (leading units of an army) · bg аванга́рд (forefront of any group or movement) · lv avangards (leading units of an army) · pl awangarda (leading units of an army) · fa پیشتاز (leading units of an army) · tl taliba (leading units of an army) · mk пре́тстража (leading units of an army) · mi pīpī (leading units of an army) · vi tiên phong (forefront of any group or movement) · fi suunnannäyttäjät (forefront of any group or movement) · fi etujoukko (forefront of any group or movement) · ru аванга́рд (leading units of an army) · ro antegardă (leading units of an army) · pt vanguarda (leading units of an army) · gl dianteira (leading units of an army) · es vanguardia (leading units of an army) · ga urgharda (leading units of an army) · gd toiseach (leading units of an army) · ko 선봉 (forefront of any group or movement) · cmn 前衛 /前卫 (leading units of an army) · ta முன்னணி (forefront of any group or movement) · mk претхо́дница (leading units of an army) · txb ānte (leading units of an army) · crh avangard (leading units of an army) · cmn 先頭部隊 /先头部队 (leading units of an army) · be аванга́рд (leading units of an army) · no banebryter (forefront of any group or movement) · ro avangardă (forefront of any group or movement) · cmn 先驅 /先驱 (forefront of any group or movement) · fi edelläkävijät (forefront of any group or movement) · gd toiseach (forefront of any group or movement) · th แนวหน้า (forefront of any group or movement) · sk avantgarda (forefront of any group or movement) · el πρωτοπορία (forefront of any group or movement) · cmn 尖兵 (leading units of an army) · yi אַוואַנגאַרד (leading units of an army) · el εμπροσθοφυλακή (leading units of an army) · ru аванга́рд (forefront of any group or movement) · sh predstraža (leading units of an army) · mk аванга́рда (leading units of an army) · ka ავანგარდი (leading units of an army) · cmn 先鋒 /先锋 (forefront of any group or movement) · pt vanguarda (forefront of any group or movement) · lv avangards (forefront of any group or movement) · vi tiên phong (leading units of an army) · vi tiền phong (forefront of any group or movement) · bg аванга́рд (leading units of an army) · fa پیشگام (forefront of any group or movement) · he חיל החלוץ (leading units of an army) · crh avangard (forefront of any group or movement) · fr avant-garde (leading units of an army) · cs předvoj (forefront of any group or movement) · el αβάν-γκαρντ (forefront of any group or movement) · cs avantgarda (forefront of any group or movement) · vi tiền phong (leading units of an army) · de Vorhut (leading units of an army) · cmn 前沿 (forefront of any group or movement) · eo avano (leading units of an army) · sv förtrupp (leading units of an army) · cs předvoj (leading units of an army) · fa پیشتاز (forefront of any group or movement) · fa طلایه (leading units of an army) · pl straż przednia (leading units of an army) · de Spitze (forefront of any group or movement) · pt anteguarda (leading units of an army) · mi hāpai (forefront of any group or movement) · no avantgarde (forefront of any group or movement) · cmn 先鋒 /先锋 (leading units of an army) · ro avangardă (leading units of an army) · nl voorhoede (leading units of an army) · it prima linea (leading units of an army) · sk predvoj (leading units of an army) · mk аванга́рда (forefront of any group or movement) · fa پیشگام (leading units of an army) · ar طَلِيعَة (leading units of an army) · nl voorhoede (forefront of any group or movement) · ko 전위 (leading units of an army) · de Avantgarde (forefront of any group or movement) · ca avantguarda (leading units of an army) · uk аванга́рд (leading units of an army) · fi etujoukot (leading units of an army) · gl vangarda (leading units of an army) · ca avantguarda (forefront of any group or movement) · ta முன்னணி (leading units of an army) · it avanguardia (leading units of an army) · es vanguardia (forefront of any group or movement) · lv priekšpulks (forefront of any group or movement) · da fortrop (leading units of an army) · sk predvoj (forefront of any group or movement)

wikipedia: Battle of Hohenfriedberg · wikipedia: Carl Röchling · wikipedia: Jan Lewicki