touchstone

For color, Tiernan referenced early hand-tinting of black and white, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Technicolor masterpiece “The Red Shoes” and Alfred Hitchcock’s dreamlike “Vertigo,” which was his touchstone.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

They’re also, according to Dominican American filmmaker Joel Alfonso Vargas, an underground cultural touchstone, one he became familiar with as a teenager.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026

The book was a touchstone in her own life, because she admired its heroine’s courage even if she never had the courage to emulate it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

By the 1970s, Bloomingdale’s had become a cultural touchstone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

The person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality—for this touchstone can be only oneself.

From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

And of course, Bad Bunny is hugely popular across the United States, which has among the largest Spanish-speaking populations globally -- so why wouldn't he take part in one of the country's cultural touchstones?

From Barron's ● Jan. 31, 2026

Film and flight are still touchstones of adventure and possibility, after all.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2025

The stars’ portrayal of a loving father-daughter relationship is one of the show’s major touchstones.

From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2025

The Edmund Fitzgerald had become one of the most lasting cultural touchstones of the digital age: a meme—albeit a strangely reverent one.

From Slate ● Nov. 10, 2025

Family mottoes, touchstones, prayers of sorts, they boasted of honor and glory, promised loyalty and truth, swore faith and courage.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin