cardinal point

American  

[kahr-din-uhl point] / ˈkɑr dɪn əl ˈpɔɪnt /

noun

plural

cardinal points

1. a crucial point in an argument, agenda, history, etc.; key fact or idea.

2. any of the four main points of the compass: north, south, east, or west.

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cardinal point Scientific  

1. One of the four principal directions on a compass (north, south, east, or west).

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Example Sentences

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

But a cardinal point in modern German military theory is that allies should fight separately.

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

Macmillan was more than willing to agree on the mutual benefits of scientific cooperation; such a sharing has long been a cardinal point of British foreign policy.

From Time Magazine Archive

To hold the mouth of the Scheldt and prevent at all costs a revival of Antwerp as a commercial port had been for two centuries a cardinal point of Dutch policy.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5 "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of" by Various