Pole Star
noun
the star closest to the N celestial pole at any particular time. At present this is Polaris, but it will eventually be replaced by some other star owing to precession of the earth's axis
Pole Star
1 Britishnoun
pole star
2
British
noun
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:
Working through that backlog would take weeks even after the waterway is safe to pass, said Saleem Khan, chief data and analytics officer at maritime-intelligence firm Pole Star Global.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
The name Polaris is taken from the Pole Star, used for navigation by slaves escaping northwards in the US in the 19th Century.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2019
This week the Finsler comet is almost opposite the Pole Star in its path across the northern sky toward the Big Dipper.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Even if it is Pole Star, they shouldn’t know that we’re their enemy yet. None of you did anything to identify yourselves onshore.”
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Alternatively, at night, you could measure latitude directly by measuring the angle between the horizon and the Pole Star.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
At that time the comet should appear just to the right of the pole star.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2023
She was, he said, so “unvarying in her pole star radiance that we have perhaps been lulled into thinking that she might be in some way eternal.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 12, 2022
“Instead of leading us at the front of the pack, he will now lead us as our guiding pole star as we press forward in the realization of his dream.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
It is called Polaris, the pole star, and has the distinction of being the star that moves the least amount as the northern sky turns each day.
From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016
The Antarctic pole star now rose to his view.
From The Story of Magellan and The Discovery of the Philippines by Hezekiah Butterworth
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.
