touchstone

noun touch·stone \ ˈtəch-ˌstōn \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: touchstone in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of touchstone

1 : a fundamental or quintessential part or feature : basis

a touchstone film of that decade

now considered a touchstone of the city's life
—Michael Specter

2 : a test or criterion for determining the quality or genuineness of a thing

3 : a black siliceous stone related to flint and formerly used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak left on the stone when rubbed by the metal

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Examples of touchstone in a Sentence

Good service is one touchstone of a first-class restaurant.
his book has long been a touchstone for travel writing that aspires to be literature

Recent Examples of touchstone from the Web

In the intervening years, the slim volume became a touchstone for fashion designers and interior decorators, a reference point for good taste.

— vanity fair, Vanities, "Around the World with Slim Aarons and His Never-Before-Seen Portraits," 5 June 2018
While many of these touchstones are useful to know about in advance of the new seasons, why people care so deeply about FLCL is tougher to pin down.

— stephen scaife, The Verge, "Cult favorite anime FLCL is back with new episodes — but 15 years later, the original still shines," 2 June 2018
Born in Hollywood, Amiri attended Beverly Hills High alongside Angelina Jolie and L.A. serves as an ongoing touchstone.

— ingrid schmidt, The Hollywood Reporter, "How Hollywood, Axl Rose & ’The Lost Boys’ Inspire CFDA Fashion Awards Nominee Mike Amiri," 31 May 2018
Even so, Walden is the place popularly linked to Thoreau, its ostensibly placid character an enduring touchstone for the author’s celebration of serenity as an exercise in standing still.

— danny heitman, WSJ, "‘Still Waters: The Secret World of Lakes’ Review: Earth’s Many Eyes," 25 May 2018
Faith has always been the touchstone for O.J. Brigance.

— aaron wilson, Houston Chronicle, "Rice University honoring O.J. Brigance with Courage award," 4 May 2018
What other band has been at the forefront of 1970s funk and served as a major touchstone for hip-hop heavyweights like The Notorious B.I.G. and Ice Cube?

— dave gil de rubio, sacbee, "The Isley Brothers take the stage at Cache Creek | The Sacramento Bee," 25 May 2018
One such group is Danish four-piece LLNN, which twists hardcore touchstones with elements of postmetal, science-fiction movie scores, and more.

— jamie ludwig, Chicago Reader, "Hank Pearl of Black Pearl Photo on masked Swedish synth masters Priest," 2 May 2018
Audiences quickly caught on, and the Netflix original has now been cemented as one of our major cultural touchstones.

— tom philip, GQ, "Behind-the-Scenes Video Teases Stranger Things Season 3," 27 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'touchstone.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Our example sentence uses "touchstone" in its most recently acquired sense: "a fundamental part." The earlier sense, "a criterion for quality" (as in "I Love Lucy is often seen as a touchstone for comparison with today's TV comedy shows"), provides a better clue to the original meaning of "touchstone," however. The "criterion" sense, which goes back more than 470 years, alludes to a method of testing the purity of a sample of gold. The sample was rubbed on a piece of dark quartz or jasper - the "touchstone." The mark it made was compared to adjacent rubbings on the touchstone from gold of known purity. This method has proved accurate enough that touchstones are still used by jewelers today.

First Known Use of touchstone

1530

in the meaning defined at sense 3

See Words from the same year

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touchstone Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of touchstone

standard, criterion, gauge, yardstick, touchstone mean a means of determining what a thing should be. standard applies to any definite rule, principle, or measure established by authority.