Touchstone
Publishing house name
A touchstone is a dark stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the streak left when the metal is rubbed against it.
The figurative sense now dominates: a standard or criterion for judging quality or authenticity.
Her first novel remains the touchstone against which all her later work is measured.
The Constitution serves as a touchstone for legal interpretation.
Level of quality accepted
- benchmarkStandard for comparison
- criterionStandard for judgment
- measureUnit of quantity
- yardstickThirty-six-inch ruler
reference · gauge · litmus · assay · proof · verification · trial · examination
Flawless model to emulate
- exemplarTypical perfect instance
- idealStandard of perfection
- modelRepresentation or paradigm
- epitomePerfect representative of type
archetype · gold standard · quintessence · prototype · benchmark · pinnacle · embodiment · reference point
standard
Level of quality accepted
yardstick · reference · gauge · litmus · assay · proof · verification · trial · examination · acid test
paragon
Flawless model to emulate
epitome · archetype · gold standard · quintessence · prototype · benchmark · pinnacle · embodiment · reference point · paradigm
As You Like It
Pastoral romantic comedy
clown · wisdom · comedy · satire · truth-teller · court fool · Rosalind · pastoral · motley · banter
basalt
Fine-grained volcanic stone
assayer · prospector · ore · metalworking · lapidary · siliceous · jeweler · goldsmith · purity · alloy
- PublishersSimon & Schuster, book publisher, Penguin Books, Penguin, Random House
- Shakespeare CharactersHamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo, Juliet
- As You Like ItRosalind, Orlando, forest, disguise, Celia
- jestersjester, fool, court jester, court fool, buffoon
- religious publicationsGuideposts, Upper Room, Magnificat, Mennonite, Moody
- Shakespearean FoolsYorick, jester, clown, wise fool, court fool
Touchstonecautionary tale
Story illustrating consequences
counterexample · worst case · aberration · anomaly · outlier
- cultural touchstoneUniversally recognized cultural marker
touch, stone, touched, touching, touches, touchable, untouchable, touchy, stoned