gold standard

American  

noun

1. a monetary system with gold of specified weight and fineness as the unit of value.

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gold standard British  

noun

1. a monetary system in which the unit of currency is defined with reference to gold

2. the supreme example of something against which others are judged or measured

   the current gold standard for breast cancer detection

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gold standard Cultural  

1. A system in which a nation's currency has a value measured in gold and can be exchanged for gold. Most nations, including the United States, went off the gold standard in the 1930s.

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Etymology

Origin of gold standard

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

One essay defended the gold standard, which had been discredited in the 1930s.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2026

The River Test is the gold standard of chalk streams and it's crucial that we, as custodians of it, do everything we can to protect it for future generations.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026

That’s why the gold standard is a colonoscopy, a minimally invasive procedure that uses a scope with a camera to examine the large intestine’s lining for precancerous or cancerous polyps.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026

For years, the SAT was the gold standard of college-admission exams.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026

Within minutes, Miele was on a table in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, awaiting angioplasty to unclog his artery—a procedure that many cardiologists say has become the gold standard in heart attack treatment.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times