calibrated

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of calibrate.

   Technicians calibrated the sensors against a reference standard before the test flight.

   Every pressure gauge in the lab has been calibrated within the past year.

   Note

   One form serves as simple past and participle, and its object is the instrument, with against naming the standard: calibrated the sensors against a reference. A scale can also be calibrated, meaning marked with its divisions, and a narrower use keeps the link to caliber in plain view: a gun or tube is calibrated when its caliber is measured.

2. 2
   adjective

   Carefully measured or judged in amount or degree.

   The central bank took a calibrated approach, raising rates in small steps.

   Her calibrated reply to the reporter's question revealed nothing about the deal.

   Similarmeasured, careful, considered, deliberate

   Note

   The adjective borrows the precision of the instrument: a calibrated response is adjusted in small, deliberate steps, the way a gauge is set against a standard. Unlike the past participle, it grades, so a reply can be more calibrated or the most calibrated of all, and it sits comfortably with words of policy and speech: a calibrated approach, a calibrated reply.

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