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.
The proposed tax rules would allow schools to continue to use nonracial criteria, including family income, geography or first-generation college status.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
It lets institutions continue to support underprivileged students as long as those efforts use “race-neutral criteria such as family income, geographic location, first-generation status, individual hardship, military family status, or academic achievement.”
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026
Under the legislation, ultra-fast fashion will be determined according to two criteria: the volume of clothing placed on the market and the cost of repairing garments relative to their purchase price.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
When BMI was used by itself, it failed to identify a substantial number of people who met body-fat criteria for obesity.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
It also encourages housing authorities not only to screen all applicants’ criminal records, but to develop their own exclusion criteria.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
