Meaning & use

benchmark

noun·Academic

A standard or point of reference against which things can be compared or measured.

See it in a sentence

The company's new product became the benchmark that competitors tried to match.

Test scores from last year serve as a benchmark for measuring this year's progress.

A note on using this word

Benchmark is common in business and technology, especially for performance tests comparing software, hardware, or financial results against a known standard.

Words with a similar meaning

standardyardstickcriterion

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Another way to use it

2. verb

To evaluate something by comparing it against a standard or competitor.

The team benchmarked the new server against three competing models before purchasing.

Make it your own

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