fountainhead

noun

foun·​tain·​head ˈfau̇n-tᵊn-ˌhed 

1

: a spring that is the source of a stream

2

: principal source : origin

Did you know?

In Walden, widely considered Henry David Thoreau’s masterwork, the poet-philosopher extolled one major—nay, transcendent—perk of being an early bird: “Morning air! If men will not drink of this at the fountainhead of the day, why, then, we must even bottle up some and sell it in the shops, for the benefit of those who have lost their subscription ticket to morning time in this world.” Thoreau was using fountainhead in its figurative sense—referring to morning as the “origin” of the day to follow—while also paying homage to its literal meaning, “the source of a stream” (the earliest sense of fountain being “a natural spring”). As someone who spent two years living, writing, and meditating in a cabin, Thoreau was nothing, after all, if not thorough.

Synonyms

• cradle
• font
• fountain
• origin
• root
• seedbed
• source
• spring
• well
• wellspring

Examples of fountainhead in a Sentence

the fountainhead of the faith

historically, California has served as the fountainhead of that eclectic group of self-actualization movements known as the New Age

Recent Examples on the Web

This suggests that Americans will witness more than Band-Aid fixes, that with his election mandate and a Republican majority in Congress, Trump will overhaul the education system into a fountainhead of moral and academic excellence. —Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 13 Nov. 2024

Boards rarely know how the company actually works: The CEO is usually the fountainhead of all information to the board. —Shivaram Rajgopal, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024

The shimmering spot lensed by her longtime friend Steven Klein takes her back to the brand fountainhead dripping with gold, while simultaneously catapulting J’Adore — Rihanna-channeled — into the future. —Jennifer Weil, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019

From tea drinking to persimmon cultivation, the city became a fountainhead of Japanese food culture. —Megan Zhang, Saveur, 9 May 2024

The patriarch, the fountainhead, is Eli McCullough, born the same day that Texas became a state, a hard man forged through fire. —Chris Vognar, Chron, 28 May 2023

Stoic happiness, like Stoic everything else, makes internal calm its fountainhead. —Tom Bissell, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023

Because the Court implied that its own authority to interpret the Constitution is superior to that of the other branches, the case is the fountainhead of judicial supremacy. —Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2023

The fountainhead of American bohemia, Greenwich Village has always departed from the straight and narrow. —Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 21 Nov. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1585, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

fountainhead

noun

foun·​tain·​head ˈfau̇nt-ᵊn-ˌhed 

1

: a spring that is the source of a stream

2

: an original or primary source : origin

the fountainhead of our liberties