Cynosure

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈsʌɪnəʊsjÉ™/Hyphenation: cy + no + sure

Origin

From French cynosure ("Ursa Minor; Polaris"), from Latin Cynosūra ("Ursa Minor"), from Ancient Greek Κυνόσουρα (Kunosoura, "Ursa Minor"), literally “dog’s tail’, from κυνός (kunos, "dog's") + οὐρά (oura, "tail").

Full definition of cynosure

Noun

1. (usually capitalized) Ursa Minor or Polaris, the North Star, used as a guide by navigators.
2. (figuratively) That which serves to guide or direct; a guiding star.let faith be your cynosure to walk by
3. Something that is the center of attention; an object that serves as a focal point of attraction and admiration.
• 1852, Alice Cary, Clovernook, or Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West:The rooms were brilliant with lights and flowers, and gaiety and beauty, and intellect; and the lately shrinking country girl was the cynosure of all eyes---the most envied, the most dreaded, the most admired, the most loved.
• 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 306:With anglophobia driving out anglophilia, the king – as during the Seven Years War – came to represent the very cynosure of patriotic zeal.