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:
A core purpose for accounting standards is so investors have a common yardstick to compare companies across completely different industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Warsh has a preferred way to measure inflation that produces a result nearly a full percentage point lower than the Fed’s currently preferred yardstick.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
The result may not be the yardstick for England.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Oil prices have jumped since the start of the conflict, with Brent, the global yardstick, trading at around $89 a barrel, up from around $72 last week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Everybody at our end of the yardstick was naturally all ears.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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
Since then, he has scored his and others’ predictions against those yardsticks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
Instinctively, I felt that I was lying on my back, not my stomach, but I really was doing neither—most normal yardsticks disappear in space, and I was no more lying than standing or falling.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
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.
