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A.Word.A.Day--vanguard

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: what does that company name mean?

vanguard (VAN-gard) noun

1. The forefront of an army.

2. The leading position in a movement; people at the head of a movement.

[Shortening of French avant-garde, from avant (before) + garde (guard).]

See more usage examples of vanguard in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"Boeing began to view its Russian staff as the vanguard of a new push into the European market, and in 1998 it opened its Moscow Design Center, which a year ago boasted nearly 700 engineers." Stanley Holmes and Simon Ostrovsky; The New Cold War at Boeing; BusinessWeek (New York); Feb 3, 2003.

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