a·vant-garde [uh-vahnt-gahrd, uh-vant-, av-ahnt-, ah-vahnt-; Fr. a-vahn-gard]
1. the advance group in any field, esp. in the visual, literary, or musical arts, whose works are characterized chiefly by unorthodox and experimental methods.
–adjective
2. of or pertaining to the experimental treatment of artistic, musical, or literary material.
3. unorthodox or daring; radical.
[Origin: 1475–85; in sense “vanguard”; < F: lit., fore-guard. Se
