- plural of criterion.
criteria
Americannoun
Usage
What does criteria mean? Criteria is the plural of criterion—a standard or principle for judging, evaluating, or selecting something. Criteria are the ideals or requirements on which a judgment, evaluation, or selection is based. The plural of criterion can also be criterions, but this is rarely used. Criteria are often the particular requirements that someone or something must meet in order to be considered or qualify for something. An applicant for a job may be evaluated based on several criteria, including their education, experience, and references—each one of these standards is a criterion. Your grade in a class may be based on certain criteria, such as your test scores, your grades on homework and other assignments, and your participation in class. Similarly, a gymnast’s score is based on several criteria involving how well they performed certain moves. The word criteria is often used with the word meet, as in Your entry meets all of our criteria for inclusion in the exhibit. Sometimes, people try to use criteria as a singular noun (like how data is sometimes used), but this is generally considered not the right way to use it. Example: We assess the candidates based on several criteria, and one criterion is that they must have at least five years of experience in a similar position.
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.
Next season, however, all it would take is being among the top 24 teams as deemed by the 13-member committee, which considers on-field performance, head-to-head results and strength of schedule the primary criteria.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
That keeps environmental, social and governance criteria relevant for bond buyers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Perhaps it's not overly imaginative to be opting for the current top two in Germany's second tier but FC Nuremberg meet all the selection criteria laid out above.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
“Visibility may depend less on advertising to people and more on being clearly described to agents through specs, structured product data and reviews that match the criteria agents ask about,” Kim said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
The first evidence for tool production dates from about 2.5 million years ago, and the manufacture and use of tools are the criteria by which archaeologists recognise ancient humans.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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