cardinal point

noun

: one of the four principal compass points north, south, east, and west

Examples of cardinal point in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Created from stainless steel, each of the four figures faces one of the four cardinal points, reflecting and merging with their surroundings. —Jeanine Barone, Forbes, 9 Jan. 2025

With a unique and innovative approach, the resort integrates the deep connections between the lunar phases and Mayan cardinal points, colors, seasons, natural elements, temperatures, and the energetic and spiritual significance each phase represents. —George Nellist, USA TODAY, 21 June 2024

One example that appears to support that view is some Australian Aborigines’s instinctive knowledge of the cardinal points without need of a compass. —Simeon Tegel, Washington Post, 23 June 2023

Rondon’s logs from that first afternoon show that at one time or another the river’s course flowed in the direction of each of the four cardinal points of the compass. —Larry Rohter, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023

Photo: Esa Alexander (Reuters) PublishedYesterday Countries in the four cardinal points of Africa witnessed much tumult today (March 20). —Faustine Ngila, Quartz, 20 Mar. 2023

Tracts from the Middle Ages offered their own elaborations: a comet travelling west to east foretold a foreign invader; a comet appearing at a certain cardinal point meant a leader would soon die. —Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2023

But, for the Arensberg chronicle, the cardinal point is their friendship—the French magus and the gamier avatar of Henry James’s Daisy Miller. —Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 7 Mar. 2022

Even the most sober-minded Egyptologists agreed that the pyramids were aligned to the cardinal points of the compass with a precision that would be difficult to better even in modern times. —Jimmy Maher, Ars Technica, 15 Mar. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1561, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cardinal point

• adjoint
• anoint
• appoint
• checkpoint
• conjoint
• disjoint
• endpoint
• gunpoint
• midpoint
• nonpoint
• pinpoint
• standpoint

Kids Definition

cardinal point

noun

: one of the four principal points of the compass: north, south, east, west