1A mark stamped on articles of gold, silver, or platinum by the British assay offices, certifying their standard of purity.

1. 1.1 A distinctive feature.
   the tiny bubbles are the hallmark of fine champagnes

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In contrast, ‘Parallel Universe’ is a catchy song with the hallmarks of a foot-tapping standard.
   • The writer adapted the production from his own stage play, and each interchange has an authenticity which is the hallmark of a fine ear for dialogue.
   • The whole affair has typified the double standards that are a hallmark of New Labour.
   • He was determined to apply himself with the same diligence which was the hallmark of his refereeing.
   • Intellectual consistency is the hallmark of a fine legal mind.
   • A true coffee lover knows that the hallmark of a truly fine establishment is the free refill.
   • If he can get into his stride from the throw-in at Clones, then Coulter has the capacity to leave his hallmark of solid gold quality firmly etched on the game.
   • They may not be the best hurling team around but they have some fine players and the hallmark of their play is honest endeavour.
   • Long hours, mysterious forced injections for female workers and unattainable quotas are the hallmark of factories on the Massacre river.
   • I'm constantly hearing it referenced as the hallmark of useful design that masks powerful features.
   • Clear and distinct ideas are the hallmark of Cartesian thought, and Marion turns to the meaning of idea in Descartes.
   • Of course, he could be simply practicing the fine ear for accents that is the hallmark of any truly great actor.
   • For many artists, the pixelated line that is the hallmark of digital drawing programs has become as available a device as unmediated strokes of pen and ink.
   • This blend of practicality and visual/tactile appeal remains the hallmark of the ever-expanding line of Pearce Grip products.
   • Good proportions and substance are the hallmark of a fine St Bernard.
   • The Servant has all the hallmarks of good British case studies of ‘normal’ life and the abnormal things we do in it.
   • All these influences helped him develop the geometrically regular and spare outlines that became the hallmark of his style.
   • After all, a glaring double standard has been a hallmark of our nation's drug policy for decades.
   • For all those reasons, uncertainty is the hallmark of the position obtained by somebody acquiring one of these products and, certainly, no countable risk.
   • In the women's double Elise Laverick and Sarah Winckless displayed the mid-course maturity that has been a hallmark of the British women's squad here to take bronze.

   Synonyms

   distinctive feature, mark, sign, indicator, indication, sure sign, telltale sign

   feature, characteristic, trait, attribute, property, quality

   trademark, earmark, stamp, badge, symbol

1Stamp with a hallmark.

1. 1.1 Mark as distinctive.
   this attitude hallmarks many a Briton's behaviour abroad

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Insecure styles are hallmarked by features of instability, including ambivalent behavior, preoccupation, avoidant responses, and a lack of cooperative communication in the mother-child pair.
   • Psychologically, heavy daily use can induce toxic psychosis, a psychotic episode hallmarked by panic, fear and hallucination.
   • So there are a number of things that hallmarked Pentecostalism in its early years that we don't see in what might even be called neo-Pentecostal movements.
   • The title betrayed an ingrained antipathy towards the music industry that would hallmark his career.
   • So if you fancy black silk sheets hallmarked with the name of your house, or silk organza drapes emblazoned with unicorns - all you have to do is ask.
   • Australia was only one chapter in the great narrative of empire, whose spread across the globe was everywhere hallmarked by cultural theft and indigenous dispossession.
   • Lack of confidence in front of the goal hallmarked the Carlow forward line in Sunday's SFC tie in Portlaoise.
   • The speed and verve of the humour that hallmarks The Simpsons is almost completely missing in these intricate, but amateurish, cartoon strips with mile upon mile of annoyingly small, handwritten captions.
   • He may be still thought of by the Lansdowne faithful as the desperation substitution that hallmarked so much that was wrong at the end of the Brian Kerr era but at club level, Gary Doherty is in the form of his life.
   • Thus ‘Do Your Best’ rattles along at a clubbable bpm without sacrificing the percussion and guitar lines that hallmark true Afrobeat.
   • The combination football and accurate shooting that hallmarked their Leinster final success was again in evidence.
   • The brand personality is consistently hallmarked by individuality, innovation, competence and non-conformism.
   • The game was hallmarked by a superb full back display by Kellie Dalton, past whom nothing found passage, although she had generous aid from a better-balanced team.
   • The Premiership is hallmarked by fast and fierce football and one-to-one marking.
   • Retrocalcaneal bursitis is a distinct entity hallmarked by pain that is anterior to the Achilles tendon and just superior to its insertion on the os calcis.
   • It remains unclear, however, how the promised ‘zero tolerance’ and new aggressiveness with ‘unruly elements’ will make a difference against crime that has been hallmarked by stealth and guile.
   • The holy wall that has separated fact from opinion and which has hallmarked newspaper journalism for almost a century now can never be breached say the traditionalists, but new challenges demand new thinking and new business models.
   • In an age that is hallmarked by scientific investigation, Western societies are occupied with the desire to know everything, such as determining how to stop the aging process, or defining which compounds comprise the surface of Mars.
   • Horns, Rhodes and electric piano hallmark the jazzy funk of the house cuts (de rigueur for his albums).
   • He was critically ill but demonstrated the battling qualities that have hallmarked his fight for life ever since.

   Synonyms

   discolour, stain, smear, smudge, streak, blotch, blot, blemish