Cynosure

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(pronounced sy-nuh-shoor or sin-uh-shoor; "shoor" pronounced like the word "sure")  noun

Definition

1. a person or thing that is the center of attraction, attention, or admiration. 2. an object that serves to guide or direct.

Main Example

• Until just a few weeks ago, it was all but certain that the Republican Party would win majorities in both the U.S. Senate and the House this coming November. But the Democrats' prospects have suddenly improved and according to political pundits, it's quite possible that Republicans will not be able to wrest control of either chamber of Congress. So, you can bet that right until Tuesday, November 8, the upcoming midterm election will be a cynosure.

Workplace Examples

• Nicole, our brilliant strategist, has become the cynosure in the company, thanks to her accomplishing the impossible: Making us No. 1. After having played second fiddle for the last ten years, we are now the top producer in the industry.

• Even though he gave up his chief executive's powers long ago and has been in semi-retirement for several years, Ray continues to be the person who everyone in top management looks to for guidance and ideas whenever a critical situation arises. Because of his decades of experience in leading the company through tumultuous times, Ray automatically becomes the cynosure whenever we face a major crisis.

Other Examples

• a colleague remarking: "I wonder how Kristen is coping with her new environs. As the long-time executive assistant to the CEO, she had become so used to being the center of attention--the cynosure of all eyes. Now, in her new position as the warehouse manager, she probably doesn't get so much as a phone call from any of our senior execs."
• following a major revitalization, a city's downtown that had once been the haunt of muggers and the like being transformed into a cynosure; a nonfiction book that was published more than six months ago but continues to be a cynosure
• cultural commentator Steven Stark describing The Beatles as "the perfect cynosure and mirror of the 1960s"
• among the men and women whose every public utterance makes news because they've become national if not global cynosures: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Brad Pitt, Kim Kardashian, Serena Williams, some members of the British royal family...

• during his 2016 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders quickly building a surprisingly massive following as millions of Americans began to realize that among politicians he was a breed apart--that Bernie was genuine in claiming that his cynosure was "elevating the lot of the common man and woman"

• Lady Gaga is a cynosure wherever she goes, thanks to her sensational and thoroughly unconventional attire, so much so that Christian Allaire, a fashion and style write at Vogue, titled one of his recent articles "These 73 Outfits Prove that Lady Gaga is Fashion's Ultimate Shape-Shifter."

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