SPEARHEAD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spearhead mean? 

• SPEARHEAD (noun)
  The noun SPEARHEAD has 3 senses:

1. someone who leads or initiates an activity (attack or campaign etc.)

2. the leading military unit in an attack

3. the head and sharpened point of a spear

  Familiarity information: SPEARHEAD used as a noun is uncommon.

• SPEARHEAD (verb)
  The verb SPEARHEAD has 1 sense:

1. be the leader of

  Familiarity information: SPEARHEAD used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPEARHEAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who leads or initiates an activity (attack or campaign etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("spearhead" is a kind of...):

leader (a person who rules or guides or inspires others)

Derivation:

spearhead (be the leader of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The leading military unit in an attack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("spearhead" is a kind of...):

force; military force; military group; military unit (a unit that is part of some military service)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The head and sharpened point of a spear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

spear-point; spearhead; spearpoint

Hypernyms ("spearhead" is a kind of...):

point (sharp end)

Holonyms ("spearhead" is a part of...):

pike (medieval weapon consisting of a spearhead attached to a long pole or pikestaff; superseded by the bayonet)

lance; shaft; spear (a long pointed rod used as a tool or weapon)

• SPEARHEAD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spearhead    ... he / she / it spearheads   
Past simple: spearheaded   
Past participle: spearheaded   
-ing form: spearheading   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be the leader of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

She spearheaded the effort to find a cure for the disease

Hypernyms (to "spearhead" is one way to...):

head; lead (be in charge of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

spearhead (someone who leads or initiates an activity (attack or campaign etc.))

 Context examples 

Hu spearheaded the work with first author Dr. Mengqiu Wang, a postdoctoral scholar in his Optical Oceanography Lab at USF.

(Satellites Find Biggest Seaweed Bloom in the World, NASA)

According to Ricardo Mello, who spearheads WWF-Brasil's Amazon Program, a mere 20% of the forest's ecosystem is known.

(Report unveils 381 new plant and animal species in Amazon, Agência Brasil)

An international study spearheaded by Brazilian scientists forecasts the continuation of the deforestation in the Brazilian savanna, known as cerrado.

(Species native to Brazil savanna likely to face extinction, Agência Brasil)

Winds and converging ocean currents funnel the garbage into a central location, said the study's lead author, Laurent Lebreton of the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, a nonprofit organization that spearheaded the research.

(Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch Growing Rapidly, Study Finds, VOA)

Study first author Lavinia Palamiuc, a TSRI research associate, spearheaded this effort by tagging FLP-7 with a fluorescent red protein so that it could be visualized in living animals, possible because the roundworm body is transparent.

(Scientists Find Brain Hormone That Triggers Fat Burning, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)