Definition of "cynosure" [cy•no•sure]

• An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration. (noun)
• Something that serves to guide. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His brisk What Happens Next recounts the history of American screenwriting from the silents to 2005, but its cynosure is the studio era, a period he writes about with romanticism and passion."
• "The cynosure was a statue -- a statue of a buck-toothed, wall-eyed youth gazing steadfastly up into the heavens."
• "Perhaps "cynosure" is even too brainy a word for PBS audiences."