noun
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a star, esp the North Star, used in navigation or astronomy as a point of reference
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something that serves as a guide or model
Etymology
Origin of lodestar
First recorded in 1325–75, lodestar is from Middle English loode sterre. See lode, star
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.
Think “Back to the Future” and think about it a lot, since from here on out, that 1985 classic becomes this movie’s lodestar of structural, comedic and musical reference.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026
From that moment on, the sunken warship became Mr. Dooley’s lodestar, even as he “became ever more cynical” about the Cuban revolution.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026
Washington’s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Maine’s Jared Golden, and California’s Adam Gray all took the stage opposite Matt Yglesias, the blogger and intellectual lodestar of this event.
From Slate • Jun. 9, 2025
The move he’s making with the new special is away from a lodestar: simplicity.
From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2024
To the unabashedly chauvinistic Time, the youthful Professor Lawrence’s career symbolized the emergence of American science as the lodestar of international research.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
