touchstone

noun touch·stone \ ˈtəch-ˌstōn \

|Updated on: 8 Aug 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

Not unlike the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay, the gamba roja is a regional delicacy that has transcended fishing to become something of a cultural touchstone, and more recently, a draw for tourism.

— wendy mitman clarke, Smithsonian, "How a Fallback to Historic Traditions Might Save Catalonia’s Red Shrimp Fishery," 5 July 2018
Those touchstones are clearly part of a Trump playbook.

— kate linthicum, The Seattle Times, "Mexico’s move toward populism comes from the left," 2 July 2018
In a meta twist, the way the various revelations are parceled out in episodes of The Staircase has made the series a cultural touchstone in its own right, to the point where it was parodied in an NBC sitcom starring John Lithgow.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "The Queasy Verdict of The Staircase," 26 June 2018
Fitness has long been a touchstone of the entire Obama family.

— harper's bazaar staff, Harper's BAZAAR, "Malia Obama Was Spotted in New York City Wearing New Braids," 4 June 2018
While that dish provides a good touchstone, and shares some ingredients, suan cai yu differs by adding a sour component to the numbing tingle and spiciness, the respective ma and la signature of Sichuan cuisine.

— jim thurman, Los Angeles Magazine, "A China Chain’s Pricey Bowls of Sauerkraut Fish Soup Have Landed in the SGV," 24 May 2018
But the protests also drew support from influential academics and researchers, who drafted their own petitions around government contracts at Google and Microsoft, which became a touchstone for anxious employees.

— nitasha tiku, WIRED, "Why Tech Worker Dissent Is Going Viral," 29 June 2018
So, the 45th president doesn’t need to act as a touchstone for the drugs, greed, and boys club atmosphere of 1987.

— refinery29.com, "Pose Doesn’t Need Its Donald Trump References," 4 June 2018
The song, penned and recorded in 1967, became a career-maker for Guthrie and a cultural touchstone in the Vietnam era, according to a press release.

— emily sorensen, Pomerado News, "Tickets for Poway OnStage's 2018-19 now on sale," 6 June 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.