vantguard

Noun

vanguard (plural vanguards)

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...

   Synonyms:

   advance guard, avant, avant-garde, van, vaward

   Antonyms:

   arrière-garde, rearguard

2. (broadly) The person or people at the forefront of a group or movement.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   avant-garde, remnant