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yardstick

American  
[yahrd-stik] / ˈyɑrdˌstɪk /

noun

  1. a stick a yard long, commonly marked with subdivisions, used for measuring.

  2. any standard of measurement or judgment.

    Test scores are not the only yardstick of academic achievement.
yardstick British  
/ ˈjɑːdˌstɪk /

noun

  1. a measure or standard used for comparison

    on what kind of yardstick is he basing his criticism?

  2. a graduated stick, one yard long, used for measurement

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of yardstick

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20; yard 1 + stick 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The result may not be the yardstick for England.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026

Oil prices have jumped since the start of the conflict, with Brent, the global yardstick, trading at around $89 a barrel, up from around $72 last week.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

It now expects an operating loss of one billion euros and a fall in its preferred "net bookings" revenue yardstick to around 1.5 billion euros.

From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026

Housel: I want to use money as a tool to give the people I love a better life, and avoid using it as a yardstick for status.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 21, 2026

“We all have this yardstick inside ourselves, but it just isn’t sought enough. Maybe because it is the most difficult yardstick,” she explained in a letter to her boyfriend, Fritz Hartnagel.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.