touchstone

noun /ˈtʌtʃstəʊn/
  1. touchstone (of/for something) something that provides a standard against which other things are compared and/or judged
    • the touchstone for quality
    • Grammar was regarded as the touchstone of all language performance.
    • He has been a guiding beacon in my life and a touchstone of human integrity.
    • She remained for them a touchstone of good sense.
    • The nineteenth-century struggle to reconstitute Poland was a touchstone for liberals and socialists alike.
    • The way medicines are sold has become one of the touchstone issues of modern capitalism.

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