blazing trails
Forging new paths
Blazing trails means pioneering or being the first to do something, originally from the practice of marking a path through wilderness by cutting bark from trees (blazes).
Someone blazing trails opens the way for others to follow: She's blazing trails for women in tech.
The related trailblazer describes an innovator or pioneer in any field.
- pioneeringFirst to explore territory
- breaking new groundDoing something never done
- trailblazerFirst to forge ahead
- pathfinderOne who discovers routes
- explorerOne who investigates unfamiliar regions
wilderness · uncharted territory · frontier · machete · uncharted · virgin forest · adventure · footprints · discovery · forging ahead · forest · brush · marking · leaving a mark · compass · expedition · innovation · cutting edge
- pioneeringexploration, discovery, invention, founding, breakthrough
- taking leapsrisking, daring, gambling, taking chances, taking risks
- outperformingsurpassing, exceeding, excelling, outperforming, outdoing
- metaphors for overachievementgoing the extra mile, raising the bar, going above and beyond, overdelivering, overperforming
- Taking Initiativeinitiative, taking charge, first move, taking action, proactive
blazing trailsfollowing the crowd
Adopting popular behavior
bringing up the rear · tagging along · falling in line · trailing behind · imitating
blazing trailsplaying it safe
Avoiding unnecessary risk
conforming · toeing the line · coloring inside the lines · staying in one's lane · fitting in
blazing, trails, blaze, trail, blazed, blazes, blazer, blazers, trailed