the gold standard

noun

1

: a system in which a unit of money (such as the dollar) is equal to a particular amount of gold

The United States was still on the gold standard in the early 20th century.

2

: something that is considered to be the best and that is used to judge the quality or level of other, similar things

This car is the gold standard for luxury automobiles.

the gold standard of stylish resorts

Examples of the gold standard in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While Nvidia's graphics processing units (GPUs) have been the gold standard for training AI models, there is an increasing focus on chips that can run inferencing processes quickly while also being more energy efficient. — Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, 8 July 2026

While not a new concept, this K-beauty term for clear, poreless, luminous, and seemingly transparent skin continues to be the gold standard for beauty editors and, well, everyone else. — Sarah Han, Allure, 6 July 2026

Live high, train low (LHTL) is widely considered the gold standard. — Alan McCall, New York Times, 1 July 2026

Getting recommended is the gold standard, and measured against this bar, many brands are failing spectacularly. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026

Rhymes for the gold standard

• meandered
• nonstandard
• substandard
• slandered