Meaning & use
North Star
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Meanings
proper nounpropertechnical
The bright star called Polaris, which stays almost directly above the North Pole and helps travelers find direction.
Grammar: Capitalized and used with the: the North Star.
Patterns
- follow the North Star
- navigate by the North Star
Sailors once steered by the North Star.
On a clear night we found the North Star above the hills.
The North Star hardly moves while other stars circle around it.
nounsingularfigurative
A guiding principle or goal that gives direction to someone's decisions.
Grammar: Often written with lowercase in this figurative use: our north star.
Patterns
- be someone's north star
- a north star for something
Customer happiness is our company's north star.
Her family was her north star through hard times.
Set a clear north star before you plan the project.
Common combinations
- follow the North Star
- Travelers follow the North Star to head north.
- guided by the North Star
- The ship was guided by the North Star.
- a north star metric
- The team chose a north star metric to track success.
- find the North Star
- Can you find the North Star in the sky?
- our north star
- Honesty is our north star.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Polaris
- Polaris is the scientific name of the star, while North Star is the common name.
- guiding light
- Guiding light is purely figurative and does not refer to a real star.
- guiding principle
- Guiding principle is plainer and more formal than the poetic north star.
- pole star
- Pole star is an older or more general term for the star near a celestial pole.
Word family
Commonly confused: North Star or morning star?
North Star vs morning star
The morning star is a name for Venus when it shines before sunrise, not the star used for finding north.
Practice
A company says that customer trust is its north star. What does this mean?
Choose one answer.
A north star here is a guiding goal. The other options take the phrase literally or give unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “North Star”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.