- standard
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2 Standard, criterion, gauge, yardstick, touchstone can all mean a measure by which one judges a thing as authentic, good, or adequate or the degree to which it is authentic, good, or adequate.Standard applies to an authoritative rule, principle, or measure used to determine the quantity, weight, or extent or especially the value, quality, level, or degree of a thing{
each generation . . . has its own ideals and its own standards of judgment— C rot hers
}{the ideal of general cultivation has been one of the standards in education— Eliot
}{the building ... by all the standards of St. Botolph's . . . would be condemned as expensive, pretentious, noisy and unsafe— Cheever[/ex]}Criterion denotes the thing, whether formulated into a rule or principle or not, by appeal to which one arrives at or confirms a given judgment (as of value, quality, fitness, or correctness){the sole criterion of the truth of illusion is its inner congruity— Lowes
}{the size of sun- spots is a meaningless criterion in predicting the havoc which may occur to radio transmission— Dawes
}{no exact criterion for a just and fruitful apportionment of the surplus wealth— Hobson
}{these laws . . . did establish useful criteria of conduct— Handlin
}Gauge, concretely a standard measure or scale or an instrument for measuring something that fluctuates (as in size or height), can in extension apply to a standard measure whether tangible or not{a piece of 1/8 inch thickness fiber or wood makes a convenient gauge in setting brush holders— Mill & Factory
}{the inarticulate, whose ferocity was a gauge of the injustices they had suffered— Bruce Marshall
}{the degree of public acceptance of the opinions of leaders is the ultimate gauge of the importance and validity of those opinions— Rafferty
}Yardstick, basically a measuring stick a yard long and subdivided into inches and fractions of inches, is often extended to standards or criteria especially for something intangible or immaterial{no absolute or universal yardstick about what constitutes a frustration— Kardiner
}{the consumption of petroleum products, an accurate yardstick of economic growth— The Lamp
}Touchstone can apply to a simple device by which authenticity or value may be determined and especially to an authentic or superior instance of a class of things by comparison with which another thing may be judged authentic or superior{consistency is a touchstone by which the basic doctrine can often be distinguished from the propaganda line— L. C. Stevens
}{a Marxist critic using economic determinants, social perspectives, and class consciousness as his touchstones— Glicksberg
}{the chief touchstone to folklore is the manner in which it is transmitted: one man tells another, one man shows another— Emrich
}Analogous words: norm, median, par, mean, *average: rule, *law: *principle, fundamental, axiom: *model, pattern, exemplar3 ideal, beau ideal, *model, pattern, exemplar, example, mirrorAnalogous words: see those at STANDARD 2
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
