benchmark
English
Etymology
From bench + mark. Originally (attested circa 1842) a mark cut into a stone by land surveyors to secure a "bench" (from 19th century land surveying jargon, meaning a type of bracket), to mount measuring equipment. Figurative sense attested circa 1884.[1]
Pronunciation
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
benchmark (plural benchmarks)
- A standard by which something is evaluated or measured.
- 2013, Marina Hyde, Is the pope Catholic? (in The Guardian, 20 September 2013)[1]
- Is the pope Catholic? Forgive the posing of a question that is usually rhetorical, the absolute benchmark of certainty, and traditionally regarded as even more settled than the one pertaining to the lavatorial arrangements of bears.
- 2013, Marina Hyde, Is the pope Catholic? (in The Guardian, 20 September 2013)[1]
- A surveyor's mark made on some stationary object and shown on a map; used as a reference point.
- (computing) A computer program that is executed to assess the performance of the runtime environment.
Translations
standard
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surveyor's mark
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Verb
benchmark (third-person singular simple present benchmarks, present participle benchmarking, simple past and past participle benchmarked)
- (transitive) To measure the performance or quality of (an item) relative to another similar item in an impartial scientific manner.
- (intransitive, followed by at) To give certain results in a benchmark test.
- (transitive, intransitive, followed be against) To use something (e.g., a competitor's product) as a standard to improve one's own thing.