standards
- 1Plural of standard.
The factory must comply with strict environmental standards.
International standards govern how the equipment is tested.
UsageYou meet or comply with standards. Before another noun the -s often stays: a standards body.
Note
The plural shared by every noun sense of standard: levels of quality, agreed rules, models to measure against, even well-loved songs that musicians keep returning to. When the plural means a code of personal conduct, it becomes the moral meaning.
- 2The rules of behavior a person lives by, rooted in their own sense of morality, decency, and honor.
Like an inner compass that tells you which choices you can live with.
Her ethical standards would not allow her to accept the bribe.
A reporter with firm moral standards refuses to publish claims she cannot verify.
UsageUsually with the -s: high or moral standards, by my standards. Standards are slipping is a stock complaint about behavior.
Similarprinciples, morals, ethics, scruples, values
standards is a form of standard
standard, noun: Something used as a measure when comparing or judging other things; a model. Full entry
- Forms
- standardstandards plural
- Spelling
- standard → standards: add -s
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