pass muster

1. Meet a required standard, as in That yard cleanup won't pass muster with Mom. This expression originally meant “to undergo a military review without censure,” muster referring to an assembling of troops for inspection or a similar purpose. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Late Monday, Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian — who advises the government body on interpreting procedural rules — determined the proposal didn’t pass muster under the the Byrd Rule, which prevents the inclusion of provisions that are extraneous to the budget in a reconciliation bill.

From Los Angeles Times

Mina concluded, “If this was the private sector, no way would this group pass muster.”

From Los Angeles Times

Court of International Trade said that the president's emergency powers justification for the tariffs didn't pass muster, in a ruling issued on Wednesday.

From Salon

The government’s late-night race to expel these individuals, the court held, “surely does not pass muster” under the Constitution, failing to provide them with fair notice and an opportunity to contest their removal.

From Slate

Such a barebones, eleventh-hour warning “surely does not pass muster,” the court concluded.

From Slate