noun
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a measure or standard used for comparison
on what kind of yardstick is he basing his criticism?
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a graduated stick, one yard long, used for measurement
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of yardstick
Explanation
A long tool used to measure lengths of up to three feet is called a yardstick. A carpenter carefully measuring lengths of wood before cutting might use a yardstick. A yardstick is basically a long ruler — three times as long, to be specific — with units marked in inches. Most are made of wood, sometimes hinged so they can be folded, and their size makes them ideal for specific tasks in construction and carpentry. The word yardstick is also used figuratively to mean "standard or benchmark." So you might say that your yardstick for success as a gardener is how many tomatoes you pick over the summer.
Vocabulary lists containing yardstick
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.
See Examples For:
"Net bookings", the company's preferred revenue yardstick which excludes some deferred sales, was down slightly less in April-June, falling nine percent to 256 million euros.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Using mom’s life span as a yardstick puts things in perspective.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Book value, or shareholder equity, has been a good yardstick for Berkshire stock during Buffett’s tenure.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
The result may not be the yardstick for England.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Combining Leavitt’s cosmic yardstick with Vesto Slipher’s handy red shifts, Edwin Hubble now began to measure selected points in space with a fresh eye.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
By the usual economic yardsticks — such as income, industry and technology — it looks fully developed, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank treat it that way.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
But it occurred to me—while watching people waiting for gas at Costco—that the usual yardsticks don’t apply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
Based on yardsticks such as the price/earnings ratio and enterprise value to free cash flow, the valuation isn’t egregious.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
Even if he did not have a famous writer for a father, Dubus would have plenty of yardsticks against which to measure his achievements, pains and pleasures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
I took new interest in the torpedo-fish with their crackling shocks; in the turtles that paced beside yardsticks; in the mice sliced end to end, that their gestation might be viewed.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
