avant-garde
ah-vahnt-GARDadjMeaning new and experimental, especially in the arts
Memory hook AVANT (ahead) + GARDE (guard). Nell paints with her feet, her elbows and a dripping mop, far ahead of what anyone else is trying; her art is avant-garde.
The museum’s new wing shows avant-garde paintings that look nothing like traditional art.
In context In its day the composer’s music was avant-garde, full of clashing sounds that shocked audiences; today the same pieces are played at school concerts.
Similar experimental, cutting-edge, unconventional, groundbreaking
Opposite traditional, conventional, old-fashioned
From French avant (before, ahead) + garde (guard): the vanguard, the front part of an army that marches ahead of the rest.