standard
Pluralstandards
Pluralstandards
- 1Something used as a measure when comparing or judging other things; a model.
Critics treated the first film as the standard against which every sequel was judged.
The agency set a clear standard for evaluating the competing proposals.
UsageOften the standard of something, or the standard against which others are judged.
Similarbenchmark, yardstick, criterion, model, measure
Note
Jonathan Swift in 1712 recalls the court as having once been the standard of propriety and correctness of speech, and Edmund Burke in 1790 sets out his standard of a statesman. Both name a model to measure others against, not a level reached. That is the difference from a level of quality, which is graded as high or low, as in a high standard of cleanliness.
- 2
- 3A rule or set of requirements that is widely agreed upon or imposed by a government.
New emissions standards take effect across the country next year.
The committee approved a single standard for medical record-keeping.
UsageOften plural, as in safety standards and emissions standards. You meet or comply with them, or violate them.
Similarregulation, requirement, norm, rule, guideline
- 4A particular level of quality or achievement that something reaches or is measured against.
The restaurant maintains an exceptionally high standard in its kitchen.
Engineering students are held to demanding standards throughout the program.
UsageOften a high standard of something. Work can be up to standard or below standard.
- 5Provided as a normal part of something, rather than as an optional extra.
Leather seats are standard on the top trim level.
The warranty is standard and requires no additional fee.
Similarincluded, built-in, stock
Note
The word of spec sheets and showrooms, usually paired with equipment or followed by on: standard equipment, standard on many new truck models. Standard does not mean permanent, though. The NTSB's 2024 Highway Investigation Report describes automatic emergency braking sold as standard on heavy trucks, which buyers could still remove in exchange for "deletion credits" and a lower price. A standard feature is the default, and it can sometimes be dropped.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The NTSB published the relevant Highway Investigation Report in 2024 (HIR-24-05). data.ntsb.gov
- The report describes automatic emergency braking offered as standard on heavy trucks. data.ntsb.gov
- The report uses the exact phrase “deletion credits” for credits offered to customers choosing to omit AEB. data.ntsb.gov
- Omitting the standard collision avoidance equipment could lower the purchase price. data.ntsb.gov
- 6
- 7Recognized as having excellence or authority; treated as definitive in its field.
The biography is now the standard account of the president's life.
His textbook remained the standard reference for decades.
Similardefinitive, authoritative, classic, established, accepted
Less common meanings
- 8
- 9
- 10Of a grade or quality good enough to be usable or serviceable.
The boards were only standard grade, rough but solid enough for a backyard fence.
The repair work was standard, good enough to pass inspection but far from perfect.
Similarordinary, regular, basic, serviceable
Oppositepremium
- 11The prestige or standardized form of a language; the variety treated as the norm.
Over time the dialect drifted further from the standard.
Broadcasters are expected to speak the standard on air.
UsageUsually with the: drift from the standard, speak the standard.
Similarnorm
Oppositevernacular, dialect
Note
Sociolinguistics uses the noun for the variety itself, usually with the definite article: a dialect drifts from the standard, and broadcasters speak the standard. It is short for standard language or standard idiom. The word records prestige and codification rather than any inherent superiority. For forms that conform to it, use the adjective.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- In this sense, standard is a shortened designation for standard language or standard idiom. en.wiktionary.org
- Standardization involves social prestige and codification. amacad.org
- A standard language is not inherently superior to other varieties. en.wikipedia.org
- 12Conforming to the accepted, prestige variety of a language regarded as correct or normative.
News anchors are usually trained to use standard pronunciation.
The novel mixes regional dialect with standard spelling.
Similarcorrect, conventional, proper, normative
Oppositenonstandard, dialectal, regional
Note
Linguists use the adjective for the variety a community treats as the norm, as in standard spelling or standard pronunciation. It names status, not quality, so a regional form that is not standard is still correct within its own dialect. The variety itself is the standard language.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Nonstandard regional forms can be grammatical within their own dialect; standard status does not establish linguistic superiority. lsa.umich.edu
- 13The flag or ensign carried by a military unit as its emblem in the field.
The bearer kept the standard aloft as the line advanced.
Enemy standards were captured and paraded through the city.
UsageStandards are raised, carried and displayed. A standard-bearer is also a leader of a cause.
Similarflag, banner, ensign, colors, pennant
Note
The word's oldest story belongs here. Old French estandart meant both a gathering place and a battle flag. It probably came from Frankish *standahard, literally "stand firm, stand hard": the flag marked where troops held their ground. Standards are raised, carried and displayed, as in Edward Fairfax's 1600 translation of Tasso, where armies "their standards proud display." The verb stand echoes in the upright senses, down to the lamp post.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The military meaning belongs to the word's earliest history. gutenberg.org
- Old French estandart meant gathering place and battle flag. en.wiktionary.org
- The standard marked a position where troops gathered and maintained their formation. gutenberg.org
- Edward Fairfax's translation of Tasso was first published in 1600. gutenberg.org
- The quoted words occur in Fairfax's translation, describing armies displaying their standards. gutenberg.org
- 14A wine bottle of the regular size, holding 0.750 liters of fluid.
The sommelier suggested a standard instead of the larger format for the small table.
Most retail shelves are stocked with standards rather than half-bottles.
- 15An upright pole, post, or member that supports or holds something, such as a lamp, scaffolding planks, or the axis of a surveying instrument.
An ornate cast-iron standard held the streetlight above the square.
The old gas lamps were mounted on decorative standards along the avenue.
UsageUsed in compounds such as lamp standard, meaning a street-lighting post.
Similarpost, pole, upright, support
Note
An upright that holds something at its head, met most often in the compound lamp standard, a street-lighting post. Margery Allingham uses it in The China Governess to pace out a London street: "between this lamp standard and the second from the next."
- 16Short for standard poodle: the largest size of poodle, standing more than about 15 inches at the shoulder.
The breeder showed two standards alongside a litter of miniatures.
They wanted a large poodle, so they chose a standard instead of a toy.
Note
A clipped name that drops poodle once the breed is understood, and it takes an ordinary plural. Jeff Griffen's The Poodle Book (1968) sets standards beside miniatures and toys, noting that as large dogs they grow much more rapidly. The full name draws its line at a height of more than 15 inches (38 cm).
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The standard poodle height threshold is more than 15 inches, approximately 38 cm. ckc.ca
- 17A grade or year level in school, numbered from the first year upward, used especially in India.
He passed the year-end exams and advanced to standard six.
The teacher handles two standards in the same classroom.
UsageUsually with no article: in fifth standard, in standard six.
Similargrade, class, form, year
Note
In Avni Doshi's novel Burnt Sugar, the narrator finished her twelfth standard, so in use the count runs past primary school to the last year of schooling.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Avni Doshi wrote the novel Burnt Sugar. penguin.co.uk
- The narrator says she finished her twelfth standard. en.wiktionary.org
- The numbering extends beyond primary education to the final school year, class twelve. en.wikipedia.org
- 18The established proportion of fine metal to alloy fixed for the coinage of a country.
When the king lowered the standard, his new coins held far less silver than the old ones.
Debasing the standard let rulers stretch their silver further.
Similarfineness
Note
A minting term with real arithmetic behind it. John Arbuthnot, writing in 1727, puts the standard of his day in numbers: sixty-two shillings were coined out of one pound weight of silver. Fixing the proportion of fine metal, together with each coin's weight, fixes how much precious metal each coin contains. These requirements were set by law rather than left to the mint's choice.
- 19Said in reply to show that you agree, or that something is exactly as expected.
Fancy a pint after work? Standard.
"The bus broke down again?" "Standard. It happens every week."
Similarabsolutely
- 20Of a plant, growing alone as a free-standing specimen rather than trained along a post, wall, or trellis.
The nursery sells standard fuchsias grown on a single tall stem.
A standard gooseberry bush fruits well once its head fills out.
Note
A gardener's adjective, used of trees and shrubs that stand on their own stem without a wall or stake. Anthony Trollope turns it into a portrait in Rachel Ray (1863): some women, he writes, cannot grow alone as standard trees but need the warmth of a wall, a paling or a post. The noun for such a tree is the full-size orchard tree.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Anthony Trollope wrote Rachel Ray, first published in 1863. writersinspire.org
- The novel's narrator compares dependent women to trees needing a supporting wall, paling or post; the paraphrase accurately represents the opening passage. gutenberg.org
- 21A tree grown to its natural size on its own stem, neither dwarfed by grafting onto smaller stock nor trained upon a wall or trellis.
Traditional orchards were planted with standards spaced widely apart.
A mature standard can be harvested only with tall ladders.
Oppositedwarf
Note
Gardeners and foresters both use it. William Temple, in an essay written in 1685 and printed in 1690, describes French fruit gardens with some trees grown as standards and others set against walls or palisades, which is the contrast that defines the term. W. R. Fisher's volume of Schlich's Manual of Forestry speaks of standards over coppice: full trees left to grow tall above the cut-back underwood.
- 22A sturdy woody plant whose upright stem serves as the stock onto which a less hardy ornamental flowering plant is grafted.
- 23The upper, often enlarged petal of a pea-family flower, set above the wing and keel petals.
- 24A unit of measure for sawn timber, used in the lumber trade.
- 25A large vessel or goblet used for drinking.
Frolic, my lords; let all the standards walk, / Ply it till every man hath ta’en his load.
c. 1590, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene - 26A collar of mail worn to protect the neck and throat in armor.
Goldsmiths also made gold and silver mail for the decorations of helmets and gorgets. The will of Duke Philip the Good shows that he owned a mail standard (collar) made of solid gold.
1992, Matthias Pfaffenbichler, British Museum - 27An inverted knee timber set upon a ship's deck rather than beneath it, with its vertical arm rising from the part that lies flat.
- 28A cairn or burial mound, especially a heap of stones raised as a marker or monument.
- 29The upright part of a plow that joins the share to the beam.
- 30A hill crowned by a heap of stones or an ancient burial mound, found mainly in northern English and Scottish place names.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Frankish *standahard, literally "stand firm, stand hard" (stand + -ard), became Old French estandart ("gathering place, battle flag") and then Middle English standard. Another view links the second part to a Frankish word for "point" or "place." The word later merged with Middle English standar or stander, meaning "flag" or literally "stander."