yardstick

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

yard·stick [yardstick yardsticks] BrE [ˈjɑːdstɪk] NAmE [ˈjɑːrdstɪk] noun
1. (especially NAmE)a ruler for measuring one yard
2. a standard used for judging how good or successful sth is
•a yardstick by which to measure sth
•Exam results are not the only yardstick of a school's performance.

Example Bank:
•The new test provides a yardstick against which to measure children's learning.
•We don't have a common yardstick by which to compare the two cases.
•a yardstick for measuring growth
•the yardstick of success
•Exam results are not the only yardstick of a school's performance.
•Freud remains the yardstick from which other psychoanalysts choose to deviate.
•Rates of progress are difficult to compare without a common yardstick.
•The rate of return on capital is used as the yardstick of profitability.