An excellent quality or example that is used to test the excellence or genuineness of others: "the qualities of courage and vision that are the touchstones of leadership" (Henry A. Kissinger). The "criterion" sense, which goes back more than 470 years, alludes to a method of testing the purity of a sample of gold. A touchstone, as used in casual conversation, can mean two things: A way to measure the quality of something, as in “His athletic success became a touchstone for future athletes at the school”. Sign up. Touchstone Applied Science Associates, Inc. standards of behavior criterion may apply to anything used as a test of quality whether formulated as a rule or principle or not. Use the noun touchstone to describe a basis for comparison. The mark it made was compared to adjacent rubbings on the touchstone from gold of known purity. Sign up. An essential part of something, as in “Nirvana was a touchstone of the grunge music scene in the 1990s”. [ + of/for] Synonyms: standard, measure, par, criterion More Synonyms of touchstone COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. polls as a gauge of voter dissatisfaction yardstick is an informal substitute for criterion that suggests quantity more often than quality. 'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'? These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'touchstone.' Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary, the webmaster's page for free fun content. It's free and takes five seconds. housing construction as a yardstick of economic growth touchstone suggests a simple test of the authenticity or value of something intangible. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. This method has proved accurate enough that touchstones are still used by jewelers today. “Touchstone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/touchstone. Born in 1963 in an era of full-sugar drinks and originally aimed just at women, TaB became a pop culture, But that 97 mph fastball plunking Acuna Jr.'s hip became the, Sandler refreshed the song with new references throughout the years, but the original is a, Maybe Trump retweeting a Pepe meme is an obvious, Post the Definition of touchstone to Facebook, Share the Definition of touchstone on Twitter, 'Cordial': A Word Straight from the Heart. Send us feedback. standard, criterion, gauge, yardstick, touchstone mean a means of determining what a thing should be. This is why a touchstone, in the figurative sense as it is used today, is a measuring tool. Which of the following is a fruit named after a Moroccan seaport. It's free and takes five seconds. Delivered to your inbox! 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. In the late 15th century, gold and silver was rubbed, or touched against black quartz — the touchstone — to determine the purity of the metals. fine service is one touchstone of a first-class restaurant. a standard by which something can be measured or judged, (baseball) a measure of a pitcher's effectiveness; calculated as the average number of earned runs allowed by the pitcher for every nine innings pitched, a measure of a student's academic achievement at a college or university; calculated by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number attempted, a standard that is enforced uniformly without regard to individuality, a measure or standard used for comparison, anything that is generally accepted as a standard of value and a measure of wealth in a particular country or region, accepted or approved instance or example of a quantity or quality against which others are judged or measured or compared, an imaginary line or standard by which things are measured or compared, a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical, something that can be used as an official medium of payment, the most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender, the metal or paper medium of exchange that is presently used, an international scale of wind force from 0 (calm air) to 12 (hurricane), a numerical scale used to compare variables with one another or with some reference number, scale on which actual distances from the origin are proportional to the logarithms of the corresponding scale numbers, a scale formerly used to describe the magnitude of an earthquake; an earthquake detected only by seismographs is a I and an earthquake that destroys all buildings is a XII, a scale of hardness of solids; talc is 0 and diamond is 10; ordering is determined by which substance can scratch another substance, a logarithmic scale of 1 to 10 formerly used to express the magnitude of an earthquake on the basis of the size of seismograph oscillations, a logarithmic scale of 1 to 10 (a successor to the Richter scale) that enables seismologists to compare the energy released by different earthquakes on the basis of the area of the geological fault that ruptured in the quake, a schedule of wages paid for different jobs, a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Touchstone as it is defined today comes from an actual stone. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. For example, a filmmaker's touchstone might be her all-time favorite movie; she wants her movie to be that good or similar to it in some way. Job security has become the touchstone of a good job for many employees. American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. For example, a filmmaker's touchstone might be her all-time favorite movie; she wants her movie to be that good or similar to it in some way. The sample was rubbed on a piece of dark quartz or jasper - the "touchstone." standard applies to any definite rule, principle, or measure established by authority. If you use one thing as a touchstone of another, you use it as a test or standard by which you judge the second thing. Touchstone as it is defined today comes from an actual stone. Use the noun touchstone to describe a basis for comparison. Definition of touchstone. A means by which individuals are compared and judged: Whether his religion was real, or consisted only in appearance, I shall not presume to say, as I am not possessed of any, The woman took the thimble and examined it, weighed it, and submitted its metal to the test of the, He, however, no doubt would forgive thee, for he was the most humble-minded and courteous knight of his time, and moreover a great protector of damsels; but some there are that might have heard thee, and it would not have been well for thee in that case; for they are not all courteous or mannerly; some are ill-conditioned scoundrels; nor is it everyone that calls himself a gentleman, that is so in all respects; some are gold, others pinchbeck, and all look like gentlemen, but not all can stand the, Contact with the stage, almost throughout its history, presents itself as a kind of, Death is so genuine a fact that it excludes falsehood, or betrays its emptiness; it is a, Where men are congregated, conduct must be regulated by the, Gold can be only known by the application of the, Should not a magistrate be not merely the best administrator of the law, but the most crafty expounder of the chicanery of his profession, a steel probe to search hearts, a, "the qualities of courage and vision that are the touchstones of leadership".
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