cardinal point
Americannoun
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cardinal points
plural
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a crucial point in an argument, agenda, history, etc.; key fact or idea.
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any of the four main points of the compass: north, south, east, or west.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In this now classic treatise on apocalyptic thinking in fiction, Kermode argues that it “is commonplace to talk about our historical situation as uniquely terrible and in a way privileged, a cardinal point in time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2016
To avoid this situation is a cardinal point of her policy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Detached, confident, unflappable, the new Prime Minister promptly began to operate on the premise that a cardinal point of British foreign policy nowadays is the amount of influence it can exert over U.S. foreign policy.
From Time Magazine Archive
But a cardinal point in modern German military theory is that allies should fight separately.
From Time Magazine Archive
The twofold nature of the process of development is a cardinal point in his theory, linked to his doctrine of immortality for unicellular organisms and germ-cells and mortality for somatic cells.
From The Biological Problem of To-day Preformation Or Epigenesis? The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development by Oscar Hertwig
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