as in standards
something set up as an example against which others of the same type are compared
this prize-winning biography will be the benchmark against which all others will be judged in future years
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Recent Examples of benchmarks
Markets such as silver and platinum are a fraction of the size of gold or major equity benchmarks like the S & P 500, meaning the recent influx of speculative capital is having an outsized impact on prices.
—
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 29 Jan. 2026
On standard robotic manipulation benchmarks, Cosmos Policy achieved high success rates across multi-step tasks that require long-term reasoning.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 29 Jan. 2026
This includes both total website traffic relative to country benchmarks and the geographic distribution of visitors.
—Time Staff, Time, 28 Jan. 2026
Our partner's strategy now encompasses the Trefis High Quality Portfolio, which is known for consistently outperforming its benchmarks, which include all three indices – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000.
—Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
However, even those who are currently underweight the long end — holding less of the maturities than benchmarks dictate — say climbing yields could spur them into action.
—Michael MacKenzie, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026
Currently, LLMs lack stronger benchmarks that can evaluate them on long-term tasks, but D&D — with its intricate rules, multiplayer environment, and requirements for intense planning and teamwork that can stretch for days — offers a great playing ground for evaluating LLMs.
—Rachel Witkowski, semafor.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The only other player hitting those benchmarks?
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
Boards and management teams are being asked to make multi-billion dollar, high-stakes decisions in a landscape where historical benchmarks often no longer apply.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 19 Jan. 2026
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 29 Jan. 2026
On standard robotic manipulation benchmarks, Cosmos Policy achieved high success rates across multi-step tasks that require long-term reasoning.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 29 Jan. 2026
This includes both total website traffic relative to country benchmarks and the geographic distribution of visitors.
—Time Staff, Time, 28 Jan. 2026
Our partner's strategy now encompasses the Trefis High Quality Portfolio, which is known for consistently outperforming its benchmarks, which include all three indices – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000.
—Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
However, even those who are currently underweight the long end — holding less of the maturities than benchmarks dictate — say climbing yields could spur them into action.
—Michael MacKenzie, Bloomberg, 27 Jan. 2026
Currently, LLMs lack stronger benchmarks that can evaluate them on long-term tasks, but D&D — with its intricate rules, multiplayer environment, and requirements for intense planning and teamwork that can stretch for days — offers a great playing ground for evaluating LLMs.
—Rachel Witkowski, semafor.com, 21 Jan. 2026
The only other player hitting those benchmarks?
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
Boards and management teams are being asked to make multi-billion dollar, high-stakes decisions in a landscape where historical benchmarks often no longer apply.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 19 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for benchmarks
Noun
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The state spent more than $20 billion without uniform standards to measure effectiveness.—
Julie Watts,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
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In Hong Kong, this positions MKS to contribute to the HKPMCC’s governance and system design, ensuring interoperability with global standards.—
Sean Lee,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Trump made no secret of the most important criteria — a willingness to slash rates lower and keep them low.—
Jeff Cox,
CNBC,
30 Jan. 2026
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To protect against agents who intentionally overlook houses represented by low-fee agents, continue to use online search engines and broker websites to look for houses that meet your criteria.—
Lew Sichelman,
Miami Herald,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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For instance, growing network strength via metrics like active users and transaction volume tends to foster confidence in Bitcoin’s performance, which in turn supports demand and can stabilize price over time.—
Ethan Stone,
IndyStar,
30 Jan. 2026
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Doncic climbing in jersey sales Aside from viewership metrics in Slovenia, Doncic is seeing his popularity rise on another front.—
Eric Prisbell,
Dallas Morning News,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Benchmarks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/benchmarks. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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