gold standards

noun

plural of gold standard
as in standards
something set up as an example against which others of the same type are compared the gold standard for accurate experimental procedures is the double-blind medication trial

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gold standards The Women’s Health Initiative and the HABITS trial were both larger randomized trials, which are gold standards in research. — Versha Pleasant, The Conversation, 30 July 2026 Clearly, the Rockies have a mountain of work to do just to become a competitive team this season, but Schaeffer is confident that Tovar and Doyle will return to their gold standards. — Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 8 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gold standards
  1. standards
  2. criteria
Noun
  • By North Carolina’s historical standards, the answer should be no, but the bar has been lowered so much that a trip to a bottom-tier bowl feels like a victory.
    — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Though the enrollment trend can be stabilizing to its balance sheet, the district is still performing well by state standards.
    — Austin Horn, Miami Herald, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of standards
Noun
  • Here are the stocks that met that criteria and were also up more than 5% on the week.
    — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026
  • In an interview with USA TODAY, Flock CEO Langley declined to say what specific criteria meet Flock’s internal threshold for unusual activity.
    — Kenny Jacoby, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of criteria

Browse Nearby Words

gold standard
gold standards
golem
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gold standards.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gold%20standards. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 28

Why do we say 'break a leg'?
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All