0 a fact or standard by which you can judge the success or value of something: --
Productivity is not the only yardstick of success.
1 a ruler (= a long flat object used for measuring the length of things) that is one yard (= approximately 91.4 centimetres) long: --
The dressmaker measured the cloth with a yardstick.
2 a way of measuring how good, accurate, or effective something is: --
3 a standard used to compare similar things in order to measure their value or success: --
Productivity is not the only yardstick of success.
a yardstick for sth The firm uses the index as a yardstick for measuring itself against competitors.
Tradition was used as the handy yardstick to check the most "undesirable" aspects of change.
Using the concept of isomerism of individual molecules as the yardstick for isomerism in a hominid, therefore, is unduly restrictive.
Panurge's dream was in this sense a yardstick against which the appropriateness of specific techniques or strategies could be gauged.
It should be noted that it constitutes a yardstick to be assessed by reviewers of each program.
This measure is intended as a yardstick for phonological development, and forms the basis of a developmental scale.
Stories as such serve as an important yardstick for determining the strength of the pinzhong when purchasing a cricket.
Intelligibility should be the yardstick for a norm: mistakes are not part of the linguistic culture of a region.
It is a yardstick by which to see whether an artist cares about or engages in the real life of people.
