Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A star, such as Polaris, that is used as a point of navigational reference.
- noun A principle, interest, or person that serves as a guide.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A star that leads or serves to guide; especially, the pole-star: often used figuratively.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Same as
loadstar .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
star used as anavigation reference, particularly apole star such asPolaris . - noun A guiding
tenet or principle.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun guiding star; a star that is used as a reference point in navigation or astronomy
- noun something that serves as a model or guide
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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North Korean state media had used the term "lodestar" in reference to Kim Jong Il, as well as for the name of long-range rockets the country tested in 1998 and 2009, the NYT reports.
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Remember our nation's lodestar is a better future.
Hal Donahue: "Capitalists" Didn't Build America; We Did Hal Donahue 2010
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His theological lodestar is Augustine, not Thomas Aquinas.
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His theological lodestar is Augustine, not Thomas Aquinas.
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To believe that Obama is a socialist merely assumes his continued commitment to a world he has long described as his lodestar.
Radical-In-Chief Stanley Kurtz 2010
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To believe that Obama is a socialist merely assumes his continued commitment to a world he has long described as his lodestar.
Radical-In-Chief Stanley Kurtz 2010
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"Are we losing our lodestar, which is the Bill of Rights?"
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Blood and death suffuses the history of southern Africa, but our lodestar is a noble hope.
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The lodestar was a term North Korean propagandists had used for Mr. Kim.
NYT > Home Page By CHOE SANG-HUN 2012
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The lodestar was a term North Korean propagandists had used for Mr. Kim.
NYT > Global Home By CHOE SANG-HUN 2012
Prolagus commented on the word lodestar
Lady, lady, should you meet
One whose ways are all discreet,
One who murmurs that his wife
Is the lodestar of his life,
One who keeps assuring you
That he never was untrue,
Never loved another one...
Lady, lady better run.
(Dorothy Parker)
June 17, 2008
rolig commented on the word lodestar
There is a nice discussion of the origins of this word on Languagehat's website: http://languagehat.com/lodestar/#comments. The related word "lodestone" also came up.
July 1, 2015
qms commented on the word lodestar
As compasses tell us direction
So Donald consults his erection,
And where it is pointed
A new love’s anointed.
His lodestar is lust, not affection.
February 19, 2018
Prolagus commented on the word lodestar
Word of the day, definitely.
September 6, 2018