cornerstone
noun
Simple meaning
A stone in the exterior of a large and important building.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawrnerstohnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɔɹnɚstoʊn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A stone forming the base at the corner of a building.
A stone in the exterior of a large and important building; usually carved with a date and laid with appropriate ceremonies
Such a stone used ceremonially, often inscribed with the architect's and owner's names, dates and other details.
The fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained
figuratively
That which is prominent, fundamental, noteworthy, or central.
A stone at the outer corner of two intersecting masonry walls
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A stone forming the base at the corner of a building.
Used this way, cornerstone is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.