- standard
- ▪ I. standard stan‧dard 1 [ˈstændəd ǁ -ərd] noun1. [countable, uncountable] a level of quality, skill, ability, or achievement by which someone or something is judged, and that is considered good enough to be acceptable:
• The airline has rigorous (= very strict ) safety standards.
standard of• We take pride in the high standards of service offered to clients.
• Her work was not up to standard (= good enough ) .
• The Law Council sets standards for equal opportunity in the legal profession.
2. [countable] something you use to compare one thing with another:standard by somebody's standards• By American standards, her salary is pretty low.
3. [countable] a fixed official measure of weight, purity, value etc:• an official government standard for the purity of silver
acˈcounting ˌstandard [countable] ACCOUNTINGan official instruction on how something must be treated and presented in accounts; = ACCOUNTING RULEfair charges, easy access, fair terms; in Britain, a standard set by the government that advertising for investments sold to the public must meetˈgold ˌstandard [singular] ECONOMICSa system in which the value of the standard unit of currency is equal to a fixed weight of gold of a particular quality. This system was used in the past by many countries and had the result of making the exchange rates between such countries fixed:• The gold standard forced the central bank to exchange currency for gold at a fixed price.
ˈmonetary ˌstandard [countable] ECONOMICSsomething on which the value of money is based, for example gold:• At present the dollar is the global monetary standard for petroleum exchange.
ˈTrading ˌStandards [plural]LAW in Britain, the local government department responsible for protecting the rights of consumer S, by checking that trading is fair, goods are safe etc:• For consumer advice relating to product safety, contact your local Trading Standards Officer.
[m0] ▪ II. standard standard 2 adjective1. accepted as normal or usual:• It's standard practice (= the usual way of doing things ) to employ people on a freelance basis.
• We paid them the standard rate for the job.
2. regular and usual in shape, size, quality etc:• We make shoes in standard and wide sizes.
• All these vans are made to a standard design.
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Ⅰ.standard UK US /ˈstændəd/ noun► [C or U] a level of quality that people expect and generally accept as normal: basic/high/low standard »Their Customer Services is generally of a very high standard.
»Online form-completion is fast becoming the standard.
achieve/meet/set a standard »Banks in Hong Kong and China are setting the standard for customer service in call centres.
»Customers have witnessed the standard of services decline while the profitability of the banks has escalated.
by sb's/sth's standards »At $80,000, the house is a bargain by American standards.
»The new probe is modest by modern space technology standards.
below/up to standard »The electrical equipment was not up to standard.
»falling/rising standards
»improve/lower/raise standards
► [C] (WRITTEN ABBREVIATION std.) MEASURES an official rule, unit of measurement, or way of operating that is used in a particular area of manufacturing or services: a common/a global/an international standard »MP3 is a recognized global standard for audio encoding and compression.
»an accountancy/industry/legal standard
»Several states were given notice that they do not meet the standard for ozone levels.
»safety standards
»a federal/government/national standard
»enforce/tighten standards
→ See also ACCOUNTING STANDARD(Cf. ↑accounting standard), CAT STANDARD(Cf. ↑CAT standard), THE GOLD STANDARD(Cf. ↑the gold standard), INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS(Cf. ↑International Accounting Standards), INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARD(Cf. ↑International Financial Reporting Standard), INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS(Cf. ↑international labour standards), MONETARY STANDARD(Cf. ↑monetary standard), OPEN STANDARD(Cf. ↑open standard), TRADING STANDARDS(Cf. ↑Trading Standards)Ⅱ.standard UK US /ˈstændəd/ adjective► normal or average: »The price quoted is for the standard size.
standard practice/procedure »The board has been careful to follow standard procedures and employment law.
»The current model comes with all these extra features as standard.
► (WRITTEN ABBREVIATION std.) MEASURES following a particular set of rules or measurements, without any changes or added details: »standard contract/letter/reply
standard format/size »Candidates need to enter their expenditure records in a standard format on a Web-based form.
► [before noun] used by most people: »It has become the standard text for all trainee accountants.
Financial and business terms. 2012.
