touchstone
15
7.5
- noun
- /ˈtʌtʃˌstoʊn/
:
referente
- The book is considered a touchstone in feminist literature, influencing countless writers.
- become a touchstone
- touchstone for identity
- serve as a touchstone
I would say that's the single most important touchstone for us understanding today how the founders thought of liberty.
- I would say that's the single most important touchstone for us understanding today how the founders thought of liberty.
- It was like, that's the show that you basically use objects to, you know, as a touchstone to get into periods of people's lives.
- That's kind of my touchstone is always finding that versus just always picking a side.
- You know, what were your touchstones when faced with these balance questions in your career?
- The the principle that we've essentially been looking for is the the core, the touchstone for ethics or for moral theory itself.
- They remain with us forever, like a touchstone.
- But for me, the, the, the beauty of what this human ecology has produced is I think a touchstone.
- Are there little things that you've even just come to think of as like Paddy isms like these are just like your, your, your, your little touchstones.
Examples
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You know, what were your touchstones when faced with these balance questions in your career?
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The principle of human dignity is the touchstone for CST.
Academic text (2008) -
Pain is the touchstone of growth.
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Phase 3 is, in some ways, the touchstone of the inquiry method.
Academic text (2001) -
Now, for nearly forty years, it is a touchstone of the difference between English and American culture.
Academic text (1997) -
But the United States was created, literally, by the Revolution, and that era is the touchstone for American identity.
Academic text (2005) -
For a society obsessed with its heritage and past, the period is a touchstone.
Academic text (2008) -
I would say that's the single most important touchstone for us understanding today how the founders thought of liberty.
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I think that friendships are the touchstones of our lives.
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A real touchstone of the bel canto repertoire.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
An agreed level of quality or rule for judging something
219
6.1
A rule or standard used to judge and choose something
92
2.5
A standard used to compare people or things
35
3.1
A standard used to compare other things
17
5.6
A measure people use to judge how good or successful something is
12
3.9
A way to judge how good or successful something is
10
3.7
A known mark people use to compare or find position
9
5.1
One clear sign that shows if something is acceptable
A rule used to judge or choose something
A basic idea or belief that other things depend on
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Touchstone comes from the words touch and stone, and from a real practice: people would rub metal on a dark stone to see how 'pure' the gold was. So a touchstone now means a 'test' or 'standard' used to judge the quality of something.