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

The caption is almost entirely about tariffs — no mention, for example, of establishing the gold standard, which was really the big issue of the 1896 campaign. —New York Times, 11 June 2026

As Ahmed points out, the period of the great price deflation after the return to the gold standard in the 1870s is a period of social reaction—not only in the United States, but all over the world. —David Frum, The Atlantic, 10 June 2026

Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, remain the gold standard for AI, particularly for training more advanced models. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 8 June 2026

The Best Uses for Pesto Pesto pasta is the gold standard, but that’s far from your only option for pesto recipes. —Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 June 2026

Rhymes for the gold standard

• meandered
• nonstandard
• substandard
• slandered