hallmark
Americannoun
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hallmarks
plural
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an official mark or stamp indicating a standard of purity, used in marking gold and silver articles assayed by the Goldsmiths' Company of London; plate mark.
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any mark or special indication of genuineness, good quality, etc.
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any distinguishing feature or characteristic.
Accuracy is a hallmark of good scholarship.
verb (used with object)
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hallmarks,
present (3rd person singular)
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hallmarked,
past participle, past
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hallmarking
present participle
noun
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an official series of marks, instituted by statute in 1300, and subsequently modified, stamped by the Guild of Goldsmiths at one of its assay offices on gold, silver, or platinum (since 1975) articles to guarantee purity, date of manufacture, etc
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a mark or sign of authenticity or excellence
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an outstanding or distinguishing feature
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hallmarksimple
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hallmarkssimple
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have hallmarkedperfect
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has hallmarkedperfect
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am hallmarkingprogressive
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are hallmarkingprogressive
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is hallmarkingprogressive
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have been hallmarkingperfect progressive
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has been hallmarkingperfect progressive
Past
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hallmarkedsimple
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had hallmarkedperfect
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was hallmarkingprogressive
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were hallmarkingprogressive
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had been hallmarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hallmark
1715–25; Goldsmiths' Hall, London, the seat of the Goldsmiths' Company + mark 1
Explanation
A hallmark is a distinctive characteristic of something or someone. That can mean a literal symbol on the bottom of a piece of pottery, or just a rock star's signature hair style. Though some products have real hallmarks on them, indicating their creator or origin, this word is usually used in a less literal way to describe a unique attribute, a special style, or typical feature. A basketball player could say that coming to practice early is a hallmark of her success. A business could say their success is a hallmark of their commitment to customers. And you could definitely say Elvis' hip swivel was a hallmark of his performances.
Vocabulary lists containing hallmark
President Obama's Farewell Address
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President Obama's Commencement Address (2016)
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Should girls be allowed to join the boy scouts? 10 Vocab Words
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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.
See Examples For:
Spiro claimed he contacted the production “multiple times” and “requested an opportunity to present the facts in the normal fact-checking process that is the hallmark of ethical journalism. You have refused to engage.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Jacobs could recognize the architect’s hallmark design elements showcased in the home, explaining: “The house was living proof of Wright’s hallmark Usonian principle, emphasizing a close connection between a structure and its surrounding environment.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
He has also promised a renewed emphasis on original investigations, long a hallmark of “60 Minutes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Slate staff writer Heather Schwedel investigates why lamination—a hallmark of an organized classroom—has such a hold on both kids and grown-ups.
From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026
Shoving back his baseball cap, Neves levered himself into the excavation site, a six-foot, rectangular hole with the right-angled corners and precisely vertical walls that are a hallmark of archaeological investigation.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The current conflict has the hallmarks of a long-term conflict as well, he added.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Charlotte Charles, whose son was killed by US citizen Anne Sacoolas in a road crash outside a Northamptonshire airbase, said the situation had "all the hallmarks" of Harry's case.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Nonetheless, "the crop already has all the hallmarks of producing great, perhaps even exceptional, wines", the group said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
They damage our health, he asserts, because they have the hallmarks of an evolutionary mismatch—our bodies are not adapted to their long-term effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
It featured the hallmarks of most pre-school literature: repetition, some kind of annoying rhyming, and bold-faced scientific lies.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
NSW Police said their thoughts and condolences "remain with those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community."
From BBC ● May 24, 2023
Her technique stems from the art of Mexican son jarocho, a folkloric style of music native to Veracruz, hallmarked by the concurrent strumming of such string instruments as harps and guitars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2022
Durable, warm, and waterproof, the thick woolen material became a farmer favorite, hallmarked by small, often-subtle crisscross patterns known as “shepherd’s check” or “houndstooth,” the latter named for its jagged, incisor-like appearance.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 14, 2021
The proceedings have offered extraordinary detail of the workings of a Mexican cartel, but have been hallmarked by what is unseen – and kept that way by Judge Brian Cogan.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2019
The very instrument, it might be said, which stamped Cranley as Johnson, slew Johnson himself, and the process which hallmarked the prisoner as the heir of vast wealth stigmatized him with the brand of Cain.
From The Mark Of Cain by Andrew Lang
Now, using a 3D-printed mould based on an AI blueprint, and streamlining the process in other ways, "I can make this piece in one week" with a few more needed for hallmarking, he said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
According to Alastair Dickenson, a British silver dealer who has appeared as an expert on the BBC program “Antiques Roadshow” for more than 30 years, English hallmarking has been around for almost 700 years.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023
It received a royal charter in 1327 to control the standard of silver and precious metals being sold through the hallmarking system.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2014
Dr. Lucie has defaced Scagel’s hallmarking dies with deep scrapes, so they cannot be used to create fakes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2012
He used Fabergé hallmarking tools to reattribute early 1900s pieces made by other Russian goldsmiths or their French archrival Cartier.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2011
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
