as in cornerstones
an immaterial thing upon which something else rests
a sense of history is the keystone to the city's draw as a tourist destination
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Recent Examples of keystones
Just trying to get to the keystones in this instance.
—
Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
And how exactly does that fit into the equation of the keystones of our survival?
—Outside Online, 12 Nov. 2025
Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
And how exactly does that fit into the equation of the keystones of our survival?
—Outside Online, 12 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for keystones
Noun
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Freedom of speech, civil liberties, the rule of law, and human decency are cornerstones of American democracy.—
Jeremy Kahn,
Fortune,
27 Jan. 2026
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In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once.—
Adam Serwer,
The Atlantic,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Some clerics control enormous charitable foundations worth billions of dollars through donations from followers and budgets from the state, while others operate modest local mosques with minimal resources.—
Narges Bajoghli,
Time,
13 Jan. 2026
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Still, her median grant size, around $5 million, according to Yield Giving data analyzed by Fortune, dwarfs that of the roughly $123,000 median grant from typical foundations, Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, told The New York Times.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Better yet, those bedrocks are as plentiful as ever.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Nov. 2025
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The bedrocks of healthy behavior are your biggest assets for staying disease-free.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
24 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Keystones.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/keystones. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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