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
Even then, said Administration aides, it would remain a cardinal point of U.S. policy to see Castro unseated, if only through economic and political pressures.
From Time Magazine Archive
The terms of the Straits Convention reduced British opportunities to checkmate Russia or bring naval pressure to bear on Turkish ambitions, cardinal point of British naval-political strategy.
From Time Magazine Archive
But a cardinal point in modern German military theory is that allies should fight separately.
From Time Magazine Archive
At nearly every meeting for parliamentary reform between the Crimean war and Disraeli's bill of 1867, the ballot was made a cardinal point.
From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (Vol 2 of 3) by John Morley
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