lodestar
noun
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If you’re looking for inspiration, lodestar may represent the mother lode. The literal, albeit archaic, meaning of lodestar is “a star that leads or guides”; it is a term that has been used especially in reference to the North Star, a star in the Ursa Minor, or Little Dipper, constellation. The lode in both lodestar and mother lode comes from the Middle English word for “course” (lode is still used in some parts of England to mean “waterway”). Both the starry sense of lodestar and the more earthly “something or someone that leads or guides a person or group of people” meaning date back to the 14th century, the time of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who used both in his work. The literal sense had mostly fallen out of use by the early 17th century, but the figurative use shines on.
Examples of lodestar in a Sentence
Brett L. Carter, Foreign Affairs, 6 Jan. 2023
The question now is what, if anything, should replace 1.5 as a lodestar for nations’ climate aspirations.
—Raymond Zhong, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
What if Brooks, rather than Pacino, had been his lodestar?
—Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
The versatile, always-all-in Mars is a worthy lodestar for Rosé and Rosie, an album that whirls through 21st-century pop idioms with aplomb even as its heroine ruminates on heartache and anxiety.
—Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 6 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for lodestar
Cite this Entry
“Lodestar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lodestar. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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