touchstone

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“
To answer this, we must consider the argument for conceivability as the touchstone which is to separate the "Knowable" from the "Unknowable."

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A hard black stone, such as jasper or basalt, formerly used to test the quality of gold or silver by comparing the streak left on the stone by one of these metals with that of a standard alloy.
  2. noun 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). See Synonyms at standard.

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Examples (50)

  • There was no mental touchstone, there was some unmeasurable quantity slipping away from me every moment, some repetitive random loss, and my head was sinking into a soft flutey fuzz.
  • This therefore must be the touchstone, and upon this they must rest their determination. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of the Court of George IV., Vol. I, by The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
  • For a touchstone, consider Laura Esquival's Like Water for Chocolate, but with a European rather than a Latin flavor. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 04-05 - October-November 1999
  • Meditating by one's self, is like digging in the mine; it often, perhaps, brings up maiden earth, which never came near the light before; but whether it contains any metal in it, is never so well tried as in conversation with a knowing judicious friend who carries about with him the true touchstone, which is love of truth in a clear-thinking head. —  Selected English Letters (XV - XIX Centuries)
  • This time out the touchstone is Patricia McKillip, particularly her utterly charming novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 01 - July 1996
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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touchstone:   touchstones
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

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/ˈtətʃstoʊn/
by American Heritage

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