reference standard
Authoritative measurement baseline
A reference standard is a benchmark used to evaluate measurements, tests, or methods—the authoritative comparison point against which accuracy is judged.
In medicine, the reference standard (or gold standard) is the most reliable diagnostic test available: Biopsy remains the reference standard for cancer diagnosis.
In metrology, reference standards are physical objects or procedures with precisely known values used to calibrate instruments.
- benchmarkStandard for comparison
- calibrationAdjusting for measurement accuracy
- measuring stickGraduated tool for length
- baselineStandard for comparison
- yardstickThirty-six-inch ruler
measurement · gauge · criterion · specification · quality control · traceable · certified · precision · accuracy · control · metric · norm · tolerance · validation · laboratory · master · quality · compliance
- standardsnorm, norms, criterion, criteria, specification
- idealsideal, utopia, archetypes, models, paradise
- validationapproval, accuracy, precision, specificity, selectivity
- Bioanalysisassay, assays, analyte, mass spectrometry, chromatography
- Calibrationcalibration, recalibration, zeroing, accuracy check, color calibration
- Lab Analysisspectrometer, spectrophotometry, spectroscopy, colorimeter, photometer
reference standardrough estimate
Imprecise preliminary calculation
approximation · guesswork · ballpark figure · educated guess · rule of thumb
reference, standard, refer, refers, referred, referring, referent, referential, referee